The first earnings season of 2014 has already officially begun, but the amount of companies reporting their balance sheets will increase substantially beginning on Tuesday.
Indeed, giants like Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) , Delta Airlines (DAL) , and Verizon Communications (VZ) will all be letting their shareholders know about how things went during the recently-ended quarter and year, and while the big oil companies won’t be joining them just yet, investors can look to oil & gas services companies for some at least some preliminary clues as to how the year went for the energy industry.
Last week, the largest services company in the game, Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) came out strong with a 22 percent uptick in profits for the fourth quarter of 2013, and the stock has been rewarded with upgrades and a nearly 2 percent jump in share-price. On Tuesday, investors can expect reports from Halliburton (HAL) and Baker Hughes (BHI) , but as shale production ramps up in the US and the rest of the world, services companies in general stand to benefit greatly.
The following are the companies who have started off this year on the momentum of excellent 2013 returns.
Core Laboratories NV (CLB)
Market-Cap: $8.70 billion
Price: $191
Performance (Year): +70 percent
Tesco Corporation (TESO)
Market-Cap: $794 million
Price: $20.32
Performance (Year): +69 percent
Exterran Holdings Inc. ($EXH)
Market-Cap: $2.3 billion
Price: $35.20
Performance (Year): +56.50 percent
Natural Gas Services Group Inc. (NGS)
Market-Cap: $333.90 million
Price: $27
Performance (Year): +55 percent
Newpark Resources Inc. (NR)
Market-Cap: $1.04 billion
Price: $12.10
Performance (Year):+49 percent
