- Transocean (RIG +0.6%) is downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley, which cites RIG's "increasingly marginalized fleet."
- The firm believes current rig market conditions could motivate RIG to cold-stack up to 17 other lower-end floaters - a third of its marketed floater fleet of 55 units - and that "deteriorating customer behavior" regarding contracts could affect RIG, especially in Brazil.
- RIG also is most levered to the 5G market, Stanley says; despite the firm's assumption that its 15 x 5G floaters remain marketable, "it is evident this rig class is increasingly misplaced as prototype ultra-deepwater rigs with lower efficiency than 6G+ peers, as demonstrated by [RIG's] recent decision to scrap the 1999-built Deepwater Expedition.