- Atwood Oceanics (ATW -0.6%) disclosed in its latest fleet status report a delay with its Atwood Advantage drillship scheduled to work for Noble Energy in the Gulf of Mexico, but Cowen analysts keep their Outperform rating and $60 price target even while lowering their Q3 earnings estimate to $1.05 from $1.18.
- As with any new drillship, the Advantage will experience startup problems during the first six months of operation, which should not cause concern, Cowen says; Ocean Rig (NASDAQ:ORIG), Pacific Drilling (NYSE:PACD) and Rowan (NYSE:RDC) have faced similar startup issues on newbuild drillships, which are fairly common as the kinks in new equipment and systems are worked out.