Earnings Preview: National-Oilwell Varco

National-Oilwell Varco (NOV) is expected to report Q4 earnings Wednesday with a conference call scheduled for 10:00 am ET.

Guidance

Analysts are looking for the company to post a Q4 EPS of $1.05 on revenue of $2.68B. The consensus range is $1.02 to $1.10 for EPS, and revenue range of $2.64B to $2.77B, according to First Call.

National-Oilwell has been one of fastest growing oil equipment and services companies in the industry, and the stock jumped about 150% in 2007. The company and Grant Prideco (GRP) announced in December that they entered into a definitive merger agreement. National-Oilwell will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Grant Prideco for $23.20 in cash and 0.4498 shares of National-Oilwell per share of Grant Prideco.

Analyst analysis

Calyon Securities upgraded National-Oilwell's shares to Buy from Add in December, based on valuation as they believe the market's reaction to the acquisition was overly negative, and they view it as a good strategic fit.