Top Oil Service Companies To Invest In 2014

It's been a busy week for Halliburton (NYSE: HAL  ) . And at the end, the second largest oil services company seems to have come out trumps. Here is a company whose management knows what it's doing. The strategy to return cash to investors through share buybacks is proving to be a master stroke.

Halliburton's corporate headquarters in Houston. Source: Wikimedia commons.

Not the best of weeks ...
Starting with the reporting of the second-quarter results, this hasn't been the most impressive of weeks for Halliburton. A flat rig count and lower drilling activity ensured that revenue from the North American segment -- the company's largest market -- declined almost 10%, year over year, in the first six months of 2013. To top that, a federal antitrust probe has been initiated targeting the U.S. hydraulic fracturing market, with the top names, including Halliburton, coming under investigation.

Hot Long Term Companies To Buy Right Now: Destination Maternity Corporation(DEST)

Destination Maternity Corporation engages in the design and retail of maternity apparel. It offers casual and career wear, formal attire, lingerie, sportswear, and outerwear. As of September 30, 2011, the company operated 2,352 retail locations, including 658 stores in 50 states of the United States (U.S.), Puerto Rico, Guam, and Canada; and 1,694 leased departments located within department stores and baby specialty stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. It operates stores under the Motherhood Maternity, A Pea in the Pod, and Destination Maternity names. Motherhood Maternity brand serves the value-priced portion of the maternity apparel business with stores located in regional malls, strip and power centers, and central business districts. A Pea in the Pod brand serves the medium-priced and luxury portion of the maternity apparel business with stores located in regional malls, lifestyle centers, central business districts, and stand-alone stores. Destination Maternity brand provides Motherhood and Pea merchandise with stores located in regional malls and lifestyle centers. The company also sells its merchandise on the Internet through DestinationMaternity.com and brand-specific Web sites. In addition, Destination Maternity Corporation offers Two Hearts Maternity by Destination Maternity collection at Sears stores in the U.S. through a leased department relationship. Further, the company distributes its Oh Baby by Motherhood collection through a license arrangement at Kohl?s stores in the U.S. and through Kohls.com. Additionally, it had 66 international franchised locations comprised of 15 stand-alone stores in the Middle East and South Korea under the Destination Maternity name; and 51 shop-in-shop locations in India and South Korea. The company was formerly known as Mothers Work, Inc. and changed its name to Destination Maternity Corporation in December 2008. Destination Maternity Corporation was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Philad elphia, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Maternity apparel designer and retailer Destination Maternity (DEST) raised its quarterly dividend 6.7% to 20 cents per share, payable on Mar. 28 to shareholders of record as of Mar 7.
  DEST Dividend Yield: 2.96%

• [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 Destination Maternity (Nasdaq: DEST  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Top Oil Service Companies To Invest In 2014: Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO)

Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. operates as an offshore oil and gas drilling contractor worldwide. It provides offshore drilling services in both the floater market, such as ultra-deepwater, deepwater, and mid-water; and in the non-floater and jack-up markets. The company operates a fleet of 44 offshore drilling rigs, consisting of 32 semisubmersibles, 7 jack-ups, and 5 dynamically positioned drillships, of which 4 are under construction. It serves independent oil and gas companies, and government-owned oil companies. The company was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. is a subsidiary of Loews Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Higher oil prices have helped offshore drillers like Ensco (ESV), Noble (NE), Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO) and Seadrill (SDRL) rally and now they’re getting another boost today after fleet updates from Diamond Offshore and Ensco.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO) hit black gold with its earnings release today–and gave the beaten-down sector a boost, as Transocean (RIG), Seadrill (SDRL) and Noble Corp. (NE) all posted big gains.

  Reuters

  Heading into today, it had been a tough, tough year for the offshore drillers as investors bet that the market for rigs would be weak. Transocean had lost 15% including reinvested dividends, while Noble Corp. had dropped 16%, Diamond Offshore had declined 13% and Seadrill, which one analyst had described as being in a bit of a pickle, had fallen 17%.

  The came Diamond Offshore’s earnings. It reported a profit of 93 cents a share, beating analyst forecasts for 65 cents. Cowen’s J.B. Lowe explains how Diamond Offshore managed to beat expectations:

  Contract drilling expenses were the main driver of earnings outperformance compared to our estimates; opex of $370 million was well below our $412 million estimate and guidance of $405-$425 million for the quarter. Diamond managed to record better-than-expected cost containment results across all segments of the floater market; in particular, deepwater expenses outperformed, at $72 million versus our $90 million forecast.

  To top it off, Diamond Offshore also announced that it would pay a special cash dividend of 75 cents a share and some new short-term contracts for some of its drill fleet.� “We believe the beat combined with a slightly positive fleet status report and the announcement that the company has actively been repurchasing shares should result in shares trading higher,” Wunderlich Securities analyst Todd Scholl said in a report released before the open.

  Trading higher might be an understatement. Shares of Diamond Offshore have gained 9.2% to $53 at 1:50 p.m. today–and cut its year-to-date price drop to just 6.9%. Diamond Offshore’s earnings also boosted the shares of Transocean, which has risen 4.3% to $43.21, Seadrill, which ha

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  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 Oil Service Companies To Invest In 2014: Amalgamated Gold and Silver Inc (BCHS)

Amalgamated Gold & Silver Inc., formerly Balmoral FX Systems Inc, incorporated on November 13, 1992, is a development-stage company. The Company is a holding Company researching various opportunities for investment in gold and silver mining operations.

The Company is focused on gold and silver mining interests in the United States and Mexico. The Company has conducted or has attempted to conduct operations in several other industries and is concentrating all operations on the development.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap mining stocks Discovery Minerals Ltd (OTCMKTS: DSCR), Zinco Do Brasil Inc (OTCMKTS: ZNBR) and Amalgamated Gold and Silver Inc (OTCMKTS: BCHS) have been getting some extra attention lately as one stock surged last Friday while the other two are or have been in the past, the subject of paid promotions. It goes without saying though that small cap mining stocks tend to be riskier than your average stock. But do these three small cap mining stocks have what it takes to produce a mother lode for investors? Here is a deeper dig into all three:

Top Oil Service Companies To Invest In 2014: Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc.(HMIN)

Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc. develops, leases, operates, franchises, and manages a chain of economy hotels in the People?s Republic of China. The company operates its hotels under the Home Inn brand name. As of April 28, 2011, it had approximately 800 Home Inns in operation and 1,000 Home Inns sealed in franchise agreements. The company was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  Home Inns & Hotels Management (NASDAQ: HMIN) is estimated to post its Q4 earnings at $2.18 per share on revenue of $1.54 billion.

  Qiwi plc (NASDAQ: QIWI) is expected to report its Q4 earnings at $0.28 per share on revenue of $50.00 million.

• [By Belinda Cao]

  The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index (CH55BN) of the most-traded Chinese companies in the U.S. slumped 3.4 percent last week to a seven-month low of 89.04. The gauge traded at 13.5 times estimated earnings, 3.6 percent below the S&P�� valuation, data compiled by Bloomberg show. China Southern Airlines Co. (ZNH) and China Eastern Airlines Corp. (CEA) lost more than 6 percent April 5, while Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc. (HMIN) tumbled 16 percent in the week.

• [By Jim Jubak]

  We��e been down this road with Home Inns and Hotels Management (HMIN) before. Which doesn�� make it any less scary.

  The stock is down 22.2% in the last ten days��espite solid��ut certainly not spectacular��esults for the fourth quarter, reported on March 12.

• [By Jim Jubak]

  The New York traded ADRs of China's Home Inns and Hotels Management (HMIN) have climbed 15.5% from September 24 to the close on October 11.

  Part of the reason is a October 10 recommendation from Goldman Sachs that added the ADRs to its top pick list. And part of the reason is a huge surge in domestic travel during China's recently concluded National Day holiday week. (Home Inns and Hotels Management is a member of my Jubak's Picks portfolio.)