Basic Energy Services (BAS) Stock Is Down Today on March Operating Data

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Basic Energy Services were falling 5.9% to $7.83 Monday after the oil company announced its operating data for March 2015. Basic Energy Services said its rug count remained unchanged at 421 during the month of March. The company said that well servicing rig hours for the month were 56,000 with a rig utilization rate of 55%, compared to a rate of 55% in Feb, 2015 and 75% in March 2014. The company report 186 drilling rig days furing the month with a rig utilization rate of 50%, down from 63% in Feb. 2015 and 81% in March 2015. Basic Energy Services said its fluid service truck count fell to 1,023 from 1,049 in March. The company reported 202,900 fluid truck service hours in March 2015, up from 184,100 in the previous month, but down from 211,000 in the year-ago month. TheStreet Ratings team rates BASIC ENERGY SERVICES INC as a Sell with a ratings score of D+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate BASIC ENERGY SERVICES INC (BAS) a SELL. This is driven by a few notable weaknesses, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its unimpressive growth in net income, generally high debt management risk, generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself, poor profit margins and feeble growth in its earnings per share." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Energy Equipment & Services industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 154.2% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from -$7.40 million to -$18.81 million. Despite any intermediate fluctuations, we have only bad news to report on this stock's performance over the last year: it has tumbled by 70.43%, worse than the S&P 500's performance. Consistent with the plunge in the stock price, the company's earnings per share are down 150.00% compared to the year-earlier quarter. Naturally, the overall market trend is bound to be a significant factor. However, in one sense, the stock's sharp decline last year is a positive for future investors, making it cheaper (in proportion to its earnings over the past year) than most other stocks in its industry. But due to other concerns, we feel the stock is still not a good buy right now. The debt-to-equity ratio is very high at 2.72 and currently higher than the industry average, implying increased risk associated with the management of debt levels within the company. Regardless of the company's weak debt-to-equity ratio, BAS has managed to keep a strong quick ratio of 1.68, which demonstrates the ability to cover short-term cash needs. The gross profit margin for BASIC ENERGY SERVICES INC is currently lower than what is desirable, coming in at 32.12%. Regardless of BAS's low profit margin, it has managed to increase from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of -4.69% trails the industry average. BASIC ENERGY SERVICES INC has experienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. We feel it is likely to report a decline in earnings in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, BASIC ENERGY SERVICES INC continued to lose money by earning -$0.20 versus -$0.89 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 1580.0% in earnings (-$3.36 versus -$0.20). You can view the full analysis from the report here: BAS Ratings Report Must Read: Warren Buffett's Top 25 Stocks for 2015

Click to view a price quote on BAS. Click to research the Energy industry.

from Latest TSC Headlines http://feeds.thestreet.com/~r/tsc/feeds/rss/latest-stories/~3/dW6xaKTPeEs/basic-energy-services-bas-stock-is-down-today-on-march-operating-data.html