Courtesy of the shale revolution, U.S. oil production has soared in recent years, even reaching its highest level since 1998 last year. The staggering growth in domestic production has helped sharply reduce U.S. oil imports, which fell to 8.5 million barrels a day last year -- the lowest level since 1997.
But what this broad import data doesn't show is that, even as total imports have fallen, the U.S. has become more reliant on just a handful of suppliers, especially Saudi Arabia and Canada. Let's take a closer look.
Rising production, falling imports
According to annual data from the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. crude oil production rose by 812,000 barrels per day last year, representing the largest annual increase since the birth of the U.S. oil and gas industry in the late 1850s. The growth in output was led by the nation's two largest oil-producing states, Texas and North Dakota.
The majority of production from these states consists of light, sweet crude oil, which has a relatively low sulfur content and is less viscous than heavier grades of crude. As a result, U.S. Gulf Coast refiners have been able to slash their dependence on foreign imports of light, sweet crudes.
Top 5 China Stocks To Watch For 2015: Transocean Inc.(RIG)
Transocean Ltd. provides offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells worldwide. It offers deepwater and harsh environment drilling, oil and gas drilling management, and drilling engineering and drilling project management services. The company also offers well and logistics services. In addition, it engages in oil and gas exploration, development, and production activities primarily in the United States offshore Louisiana and Texas, and in the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea. As of February 10, 2011, the company owned, had partial ownership interests in, and operated 138 mobile offshore drilling units, including 47 high-specification floaters, 25 midwater floaters, 9 high-specification jackups, 54 standard jackups, and 3 other rigs, as well as 1 ultra-deepwater floater and 3 high-specification jackups under construction. Transocean Ltd. was founded in 1953 and is based in Zug, Switzerland.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Travis Hoium]
The question for investors is if the industry can handle all of this new capacity over the long term. Transocean (NYSE: RIG ) �has seven new ultra-deepwater rigs under construction,�Ensco (NYSE: ESV ) �is building four, and Noble (NYSE: NE ) �will add five in coming years. Adding that much capacity means that $600,000 daily rates may not last forever, which would lower return on investment for everyone.�
- [By Ben Levisohn]
In its fleet status update, Transocean (RIG) revealed delays with two of its drill ships. As a result, Global Hunter Securities analysts�Mark Brown and Matthew Zukowsky cut their earnings estimates for Transocean:
ReutersContract commencements of two ultra-deepwater newbuild drillships were delayed by a quarter until Q3:14, pushing out the start of contracts on the Deepwater Asgard (12K��drillship, location to be announced) at $600K/day and the Deepwater Invictus (12K��drillship, GOM) with BHP Billion (BHP) in the Gulf of Mexico at $595K/day…
Planned downtime increased by the addition of 168 days on the Transocean Amirante (3.5K’ semi, Malta) in anticipation of a potential future contract. Downtime scheduled on the rig increased by 15 days overall in Q2:14, by 92 days in Q3:14, and by 61 days in Q4:14…
We reduced our EPS estimate in Q2:14 below consensus as a result of two newbuild drillship delays and modest incremental downtime in yesterday’s fleet status report. We lowered our Q2 EPS estimate from $1.14 to $0.99, compared to the $1.13 consensus estimate. Our estimates were reduced from $4.62 to $4.42 in 2014 (vs. $4.32 consensus) and from $3.85 to $3.74 in 2015 (vs. $3.51 consensus). We maintain our Neutral view and $40 price target on the stock.
Shares of Transocean have dropped 0.8% to $44.10 at 10:30 a.m. today, even as Atwood Oceanics (ATW) has gained 0.8% to %51.32, Seadrill (SDRL) has risen 0.1% to $38.82 and Diamond Offshore (DO) has advanced 0.4% to $49.87.
Top 5 High Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Stoneridge Inc.(SRI)
Stoneridge, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design and manufacture of engineered electrical and electronic components, modules, and systems for the medium and heavy-duty truck, automotive, agricultural, and off-highway vehicle markets primarily in North America and Europe. The company operates in two segments, Electronics and Control Devices. The Electronics segment produces electronic instrument clusters, electronic control units, and driver information systems, as well as electrical distribution systems, principally wiring harnesses and connectors for electrical power and signal distribution. Its products collect, store, and display vehicle information, such as speed, pressure, maintenance data, trip information, operator performance, temperature, distance traveled, and driver messages related to vehicle performance. In addition, this segment?s power distribution systems regulate, coordinate, and direct the operation of the electrical system within a vehicle. The Control Devices segment designs and manufactures products that monitor, measure, or activate a specific function within the vehicle. This segment?s product lines include sensors, which are employed in a range of vehicle systems, such as the emissions, safety, power train, braking, climate control, steering, and suspension systems; switches that transmit signal to activate or deactivate selected functions; and electromechanical actuator products, which enable original equipment manufacturers to deploy power functions in a vehicle. Stoneridge, Inc. was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Warren, Ohio.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Stoneridge (NYSE: SRI ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.
Top 5 High Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: CPFL Energia S.A.(CPL)
CPFL Energia S.A., through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, distribution, and sale of electricity in Brazil. It generates electricity through hydroelectric, thermal, biomass, and wind power plants. The company also involves in the provision of energy commercialization, consultancy, and advisory services to agents in the energy sector; manufacture, commercialization, rental, and maintenance of electromechanical equipment; and provision of administrative services, as well as telephone answering services. It has an installed generating capacity of 2,309 MW. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Selena Maranjian]
Brazilian electricity giant CPFL Energia S.A. (NYSE: CPL ) sank 20%, and recently yielded 5.9%. Its long-term debt has been rising, largely due to acquisitions, and its free cash flow has been shrinking (and even turning negative�recently). But it has been investing heavily in alternative energies, and it serves a massive and growing market in Brazil. The country's growth has been slower than many would like, but that won't last forever.
- [By Garrett Cook]
In trading on Friday, utilities shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.06 percent. Top losers in the sector included CPFL Energia S.A. (NYSE: CPL), down 3.3 percent, and Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo (NYSE: SBS), off 2.4 percent.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Foreign Utilities: This industry rose 1.79% by 10:30 am ET. The top performer in this industry was CPFL Energia SA (NYSE: CPL), which gained 4.5%. CPFL Energia's trailing-twelve-month revenue is $6.13 billion.
Top 5 High Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Uomo Media Inc (UOMO)
UOMO Media Inc., incorporated on June 10, 2004, is in the business of producing, managing, and monetizing music-based intellectual property. The Company provides music publishing, digital music and video, recorded music and production, and talent management services. The Company operates in four divisions: music publishing, recorded music, digital distribution and talent management. The Company has two subsidiaries in Canada, UOMO Productions Inc. and UOMO Music Publishing Inc. In addition, The NE Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of UOMO Productions Inc. and UOMO Songs Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of UOMO Music Publishing Inc. As of April 30, 2009, the Company had 22 production customers. The Company�� customers include VideoFact and Universal Music. As of April 30, 2009, the Company was in the development stage.
In the music publishing segment, UOMO Music Publishing Inc. is tasked with creating a catalogue of assets in the form of copyrights. Services include Fund advances, which includes providing advances to individual composers; Administration, which includes registration, tracking, and collection of copyright royalties; Creative, which includes creating copyrights by writing songs, and Licensing, which includes finding opportunities to monetize copyrights by placing songs on recording artists, films, television, video games, commercials.
In the recorded music segment, the Company earns revenue from the ownership of master recordings. UOMO Recorded Music has three functions: catalogue acquisition, talent acquisition for/and production activities and distribution arrangements for projects. UOMO Recorded Music is the record label division of UOMO. Production services also fall under this division.
In the digital distribution segment, the Company has been developing digital music and video Web 2.0 software. In the talent management segment, the Company earns a percentage of gross revenues for all projects it manages. As of April 30, 2009, the Company ! was in the process of developing programming architecture for the new digital music and video portal.
The Company competes with Warner Music Group, EMI, Sony BMG, and Universal Music Group.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Peter Graham]
Small cap media stocks UOMO Media Inc (OTCMKTS: UOMO), International Display Advertising (OTCMKTS: IDAD) and Media Analytics Corp (OTCBB: MEDA) have been getting some extra media attention lately thanks in part to paid promotions. It should be said that there is nothing wrong with properly disclosed paid promotional or investor relation campaigns for stocks, but they can backfire on unwary investors and traders alike. With that in mind, here is a closer look at along with a reality check for these three small cap media stocks:
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