Jay King

Ship Finance Ltd: Steady and Profitable

The broader oil & gas marine transport business has not been getting much attention, not just SFL. I think declining earnings and margin trends for the broader sub-sector, both of which peaked during the 2004-2005 timeframe, is a contributing factor.

SFL is highly profitable with 2.5x the average npm t4q of the stocks in this sub-sector. VLCCF and DHT are also good overall performers, and I like (and own) GLNG for a longer term speculative play.

Oil and Gas Equipment Providers Have Pick and Shovel Advantage

Good article. It is important to note that IEZ includes both equipment and services companies. (The full name is "iShares Dow Jones U.S. Oil Equipment & Services Index Fund".) Yahoo! shortens the name, which is misleading.

What I have found is that if you create a custom index of just the equipment-focused companies, which is 26 stocks total, that they do outperform the broader equipment + services funds like IEZ, which further re-enforces the point of the article.