10 oil companies that will thrive as crude prices rebound

Published: Jan 31, 2016 7:20 a.m. ET

Companies with low debt, such as National Oilwell Varco, will be able to scoop up rivals and grab market share

Dado Galdieri/Bloomberg
Because it has low debt, National Oilwell Varco will reap the benefits of rising oil prices more than its competitors will.

By

Philip
van Doorn

Investing columnist

 

If you ignore the daily headlines about the beleaguered energy sector, invest in companies with low debt and wait for the inevitable rebound in oil prices, you could eventually make a lot of money.

Oil news has been grim, as analysts rush to lower their crude-price predictions week in and week out. Wolfe Research, in a shocking report, is expecting as many as a third of U.S. oil and natural gas producers to go bankrupt.

Read: Saudis making a ‘trillion-dollar mistake,’ says U.S. oil billionaire

Oil has already hit its lowest level in more than 12 years, and the drop over the past 18 months has been breathtaking. Investment banks expect crude oil prices to head well below $30. As recently as July 2014, prices topped $100 a barrel.

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Recent surging global supply has led oil prices to drop to a 12-year low, and oil companies are cutting spending and production. The WSJ’s Jenny Hsu explains how China plays a role in all of this. Photo: CCTV

In an interview on Jan. 8, Bill Mann, chief investment officer of Motley Fool Asset Management, gave an example of an oilfield services and equipment company that’s well-positioned to take advantage of the turmoil in the energy and materials industries, and bounce back beautifully when oil prices recover.

“In the materials sector and oil services, there are companies that have been thrown out with the bath water, including National Oilwell Varco NOV, +4.76% ” Mann said. He called the company ”spectacular,” with a “very conservative capital structure in a disaster of a market right now.”

“The last 18 months have been the worst in history for the price of Brent crude oil UK:LCOH6 and those things tend to reverse in time,” he said.

National Oilwell Varco’s ratio of long-term debt to equity was 15.3% as of Sept. 30, according to FactSet. That’s the lowest among the six companies in the oilfield services/equipment subesctor of the S&P 500 SPX, +2.48% according to FactSet.

Having low debt is crucial for companies that wish to scoop up competitors or assets during a wave of bankruptcies.

Here’s how National Oilwell Varco’s year-end debt-to-equity ratio compared with the five other companies included in the S&P 500 oilfield services/equipment subsector:

Company Ticker Long-term debt/ equity – Sept. 30 Average return on equity – five years through September 2015 Total return – 5 years through Jan. 8
National Oilwell Varco Inc. BHI, +0.90% NOV, +4.76% 15.3% 10.4% -44%
Baker Hughes Inc. BHI, +0.90% 22.2% 6.1% -22%
Schlumberger NV SLB, +3.97% 35.2% 12.9% -13%
Halliburton Co. HAL, +4.40% 48.3% 13.0% -10%
Cameron International Corp. CAM, +3.04% 67.7% 8.7% 23%
FMC Technologies Inc. FTI, +3.41% 71.6% 17.7% -40%
Source: FactSet

To be sure, a relatively high level of debt doesn’t mean a company has been a poor long-term performer, as you can see from the five-year average returns on equity and total return figures above. The idea is that a company with low debt can take advantage of the unusual market turmoil.

Read: Barclays is now the most bearish on oil outlook

When discussing market conditions and strategy during the company’s third-quarter conference call in October, National Oilwell Varco CEO Clay Williams emphasized the company’s cost-cutting efforts, as well as the opportunity for expansion ahead of the oil-price recovery that eventually “will come.”

It has been difficult for the company to find bargain acquisition targets, and Williams said the company remained “patient and disciplined in these discussions.”

“As we move into 2016, we believe sellers are likely to reduce their expectations and better capital returns on M&A will follow. Consequently, our capital deployment strategy is shifting from share buybacks to an external focus on potential acquisitions,” he said.

The company made four small acquisitions during the third quarter.

If we expand the comparison to the 67 companies in the S&P 500 energy and materials sectors, National Oilwell Varco had the second-lowest debt-to-equity ratio, with Helmerich & Payne Inc. HP, +2.67% the lowest at 10.9%.

Here are the 10 S&P 500 energy and materials companies with the lowest debt-to-equity ratios as of Sept. 30, according to FactSet:

Company Ticker Industry Long-term debt/ equity – Sept. 30 Average return on equity – five years through September 2015 Total return – 5 years through Jan. 8
Helmerich & Payne Inc. HP, +2.67% Contract Drilling 10.9% 14.7% 8%
National Oilwell Varco Inc. NOV, +4.76% Oilfield Services/ Equipment 15.3% 11.4% -44%
Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM, +1.12% Integrated Oil 16.7% 22.3% 13%
Chevron Inc. CVX, +0.64% Integrated Oil 17.9% 17.0% 7%
Occidental Petroleum Corp. OXY, +4.49% Oil and Gas Production 19.6% 10.2% -21%
Baker Hughes Inc. BHI, +0.90% Oilfield Services/ Equipment 22.2% 7.5% -22%
Hess Corp. HES, +5.35% Oil and Gas Production 27.0% 9.7% -42%
Marathon Oil Corp. MRO, +6.11% Oil and Gas Production 30.4% 7.3% -50%
Valero Energy Corp. VLO, +5.16% Oil Refining/ Marketing 30.9% 14.2% 248%
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. PXD, +3.28% Oil and Gas Production 31.1% 3.9% 32%
Source: FactSet

Among the 67 S&P 500 companies in the energy and materials sectors, 18 had debt-to-equity ratios of over 100% as of Sept. 30. With oil and gas revenues plunging, while interest rates are expected to rise in the U.S. during 2016, the timing of that high leverage couldn’t be worse. And those 18 are all large-cap companies. Among smaller players, there will be plenty of bankruptcies, which means plenty of distressed assets for survivors with lower leverage to acquire.

In his daily energy report on Tuesday, Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group said: “Many shale producers have lost more than 90% of their market value and many can’t survive this meltdown. I would expect four or five bankruptcies to be announced in the coming days.”

It’s interesting, and comforting, to see integrated giants Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM, +1.12% and Chevron Corp. CVX, +0.64% on the list. The low level of leverage underlines how conservative the companies’ management teams are. And when oil rises again, as it always has following a major downturn, the big low-leverage players are likely to do what they have always done, which is ride the wave back up.

Keep in mind that oil is a long-term investment. On Tuesday, Credit Suisse analyst Jason Gammel called the short-term outlook for oil “bleak.” But he expects the price of Brent crude oil to rise to $57.75 a barrel in 2017 and $71.75 in 2018. So the price of oil could double within two years.

Which other industries could benefit from the price of their products or services rising that fast?