Noble Corp. Q1 Profit Rises, Top Estimates

(RTTNews) - Offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation plc (NE) on Wednesday said its profit for the first quarter of 2014 rose to $256 million or $0.99 per share from $150 million or $0.59 per share in the same quarter last year.

On average, thirty analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.70 per share for the quarter. Analysts estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Revenues for the first quarter were $1.3 billion, up from $971 million in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Twenty-two analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $1.19 billion for the quarter.

The London, United Kingdom headquartered company's total contract backlog at March 31, 2014 was an estimated $14.3 billion compared to $15.4 billion at December 31, 2013, reflecting a reduced pace of customer activity in early 2014.

Looking ahead, David Williams, Chief Executive Officer of Noble Corporation, observed, "We continue to believe the more guarded exploration and production spending pattern shown by some operators during early 2014 is temporary and that contract visibility, especially in the floating rig segment, is likely to improve as we progress further into 2014 and 2015."

NE closed Wednesday's regular trade at $30.37, down 0.43 or 1.40%, on a volume of 4.96 million shares on the NYSE. In after-hours, the stock gained $0.39 or 1.28% to trade at $30.76.