M. Kevin McEvoy
Analyst · Howard Weil
Good morning, and thanks for joining the call. I'm happy to be here with you today to review our Q2 results and second half outlook. Our record second quarter EPS of $0.67 was up 43% over the first quarter of this year, and up 29% compared to the second quarter of 2011. As expected, operating income margin improved sequentially in each of our operating segments. We achieved best-ever quarterly ROV and Asset Integrity in operating income. Year-over-year and sequentially, all of our business segments achieved higher operating income led by ROVs, Subsea Projects and Asset Integrity. We are well-positioned to participate in the next growth stage of deepwater and subsea completion activity, and our outlook for 2012 remains very positive. We continue to believe we will achieve record results for the year and are narrowing our 2012 EPS guidance range to $2.55 to $2.65. Our previous guidance was $2.45 to $2.65. So the new guidance is up slightly at the midpoint. Compared to the first half, we anticipate achieving higher operating income during the second half of 2012, principally due to the ROV and Subsea Products businesses. ROV profits are expected to be up on an increasing days on hire in most operating areas, notably in the Gulf of Mexico and off Africa, and a slightly higher operating margin as we benefit from the additional days work and a favorable change in geographic mix. For Subsea Products, we are forecasting profit improvements for each of our major product lines during the second half of the year, led by higher demand for our Subsea Hardware. For the year, we continue to forecast higher operating income for all of our segments relative to 2011. During the quarter, we purchased 400,000 shares of our common stock at a cost of about $19.4 million. And as announced in April, we increased our regular quarterly cash dividend to $0.18 from $0.15 a share. These actions underscore our confidence in Oceaneering's financial strength and future business prospects. For 2012, we anticipate generating at least $565 million of EBITDA. Our balance sheet and projected cash flow provide us ample resources to invest in Oceaneering's growth, and we intend to do so. We are raising our 2012 CapEx range estimate, excluding acquisitions, by $75 million, $50 million of which is for additional ROVs. Our total year estimate is now $275 million to $300 million. Of this amount, $175 million is anticipated to be spent on adding systems to our ROV fleet and vehicle upgrades, and $90 million is for enhancing our Subsea Products' capabilities. Our focus in 2012 continues to be on earnings growth and investment opportunities, both organically and through acquisitions. I'd now like to review our second quarter oilfield segment results. Year-over-year and sequentially, ROV operating income increased on higher demand for both drilling and vessel-based support services. The 13% year-over-year improvement in ROV days on hire was on the strength of higher demand in the Gulf of Mexico and off Africa. Sequentially, the 7% increase in days on hire was primarily due to increased demand in the Gulf of Mexico. Our fleet utilization rate during the quarter was 81%, up from 76% in the second quarter of 2011 and up from 79% in the first quarter of 2012. We continue to expect that our fleet utilization for the year will be 80% or more compared to 77% in 2011. Operating margin during the quarter was 31%, the same as the year ago and up from 29% last quarter. We continue to anticipate our ROV operating margin for this year will be slightly higher than the 30% we achieved in 2011. During the quarter, we put 13 new ROVs into service and retired 3. At the end of June, we had 280 systems available for operation, up from 262 a year ago. Seven of the new ROVs went into drill support service and 6 went to work on board vessels. Our fleet mix during the quarter was 75% in drill support and 25% on vessel-based work, the same as in the second quarter of 2011 compared to 78% and 22% last quarter. We now anticipate adding 25 to 30 vehicles to our ROV fleet in 2012, 7 to 12 during the remaining half of the year. During the first half of the year, we retired 5 vehicles and currently do not expect to retire anymore during the rest of the year. Now turning to Subsea Products. Year-over-year and sequentially, second quarter operating income rose on the strength of increased revenue and profitability from tooling. Products operating margin of 19% for the quarter was the same as the second quarter of 2011, and up from 17% last quarter. For the year 2012, we now anticipate that Subsea Products margin will be comparable to what we achieved in 2011. We continue to expect a record segment operating income for the year. Our Subsea Products backlog at quarter end was $621 million, up from $402 million at the end of March and $405 million a year ago. Sequentially and year-over-year, the substantial backlog increase was attributable to 2 large Petrobras available contracts we secured during the quarter that added over $190 million for our products' backlog. Subsea Projects operating income was higher year-over-year and sequentially due to the field support vessel service contract with BP offshore Angola. Asset Integrity operating income improved year-over-year and sequentially on higher service sales in all of our major geographic areas we serve, most notably in Norway due to the acquisition we made in late 2011. As anticipated, this segment's margin returns to its historical double-digit range, and we expect it to remain there in the remaining quarters of this year. In summary, our second quarter results were up significantly both sequentially and year-over-year, and we look forward to realizing another year of record EPS performance in 2012. Our focus on providing products and services for deepwater and subsea completions positions us to participate in a major secular growth trend in the oilfield services and products industry. We were pleased with our cash flow generation result of $149 million of EBITDA during the quarter. Capital expenditures for the quarter totaled $68 million, of which $43 million was invested in ROVs. Now looking to the third quarter, we are projecting EPS in the range of $0.75 to $0.80. We expect our third quarter EPS to be up year-over-year on operating income improvements from ROVs, Subsea Products and Asset Integrity. I would like to remind everyone that last year's third quarter results benefited from an $18.3 million pretax gain on the sale of a mobile offshore production system reported in Subsea Projects and the recognition of $4.9 million of tax benefits principally related to prior years. Sequentially, we anticipate quarterly operating income improvements from our ROV and Subsea Products segments: ROVs, due to an increase in days on hire in most operating areas, notably in the Gulf of Mexico and off Africa, and a slightly higher operating margin as we benefit from the additional days worked due to a larger fleet size and a favorable change in geographic mix; and for Subsea Products, on higher profit contribution from each of our major product categories, led by Subsea Hardware and tooling. Looking beyond 2012, we remain convinced that our strategy to focus on providing services and products to facilitate deepwater exploration and production remains sound. We believe the oil and gas industry will continue to invest in deepwater as it remains one of the best frontiers for adding large hydrocarbon reserves, with high production flow rates at relatively low finding and development cost. A late 2011 industry report forecast total annual worldwide exploration and development spending to grow nearly 50% by 2015, while capital expenditures on deepwater projects are projected to more than double. Therefore, we anticipate demand for our deepwater services and products will continue to rise and believe our business prospects for the next several years are promising. At the end of the quarter, there were a total of 92 new floating rigs on order. 57 of these rigs are not contracted to work for Petrobras in Brazil, and we expect all of them to go to work for other operators. On these 57 rigs, 11 ROV contracts have been let and we have won 10 of them, leaving 46 ROV contracting opportunities left to be pursued outside of Petrobras in Brazil. At the end of June, 94 of the 136 existing high-spec drilling rigs, consisting of dynamically positioned fifth- and sixth-generation semis and drill ships, were not contracted to Petrobras in Brazil. We had ROV contracts on 69 of these for a market share of 73%. If all 57 of the non-Petrobras rigs I mentioned are placed into service, this fleet of 94 will grow 61% to 151 rigs. So the visibility of the secular growth outlook for this market remains very promising. And looking forward, we see no reason why we will not continue to be the dominant provider of ROV services on these rigs. Each additional floating rig represents an opportunity for us to put another ROV to work in drill support service. As the use of floating rigs grows, we believe it is inevitable that discoveries will eventually drive orders for Subsea Hardware to levels not previously experienced, and demand for ROVs to support vessel-based activities will follow. There is no industry source of information to track vessel-based ROV demand. However, there has been a measurable trend regarding the total size of the ROV fleet with respect to the size of floating rig fleet. At the end of 2000, the total ROV fleet size as a ratio to floating rigs was 2:1. Since then, the estimated size of the worldwide ROV fleet has doubled, while the size of the floating rig fleet has grown only 50%. Consequently, the ROV fleet size relative to floating rig has risen to a ratio of about 3:1. Given that the number of ROVs to support drilling has remained fairly stable at slightly over 1 per rig, the faster rate of ROV supply growth is by default attributable to the increased use of vessels -- vehicles on vessels. If the recent trend ratio of 3:1 persists and all 90-plus new floating rigs on order are delivered, future vessel demand for ROVs may grow by more than 180 vehicles. We estimate Oceaneering's market share of the global vessel-based ROV fleet at about 20% and see no reason why we would not at least maintain this share in the future. Quest Offshore's latest Subsea Hardware forecast for the period 2012 to '16 includes an 80% increase in tree orders over the previous 5 years. In 2012, subsea tree orders are projected to be about 550, an all-time high, eclipsing the previous record of 462 trees in 2006 by about 20%. While we don't make trees, orders for subsea trees drive demand for a substantial amount of ancillary subsea production hardware that we manufacture. For example, Quest is forecasting nearly a 60% increase in umbilical orders for the 5-year period 2012 to '16 compared to the previous 5 years. Furthermore, renewed industry and regulatory emphasis on safe and reliable operations is providing additional opportunities for us to demonstrate our capabilities. With our existing assets, we are well-positioned to supply a wide range of the services and products required to support the safe deepwater efforts of our customers. We believe Oceaneering's business prospects for the long term remain promising. Our commanding competitive position, technology leadership and strong balance sheet and cash flow enable us to continue to grow the company, and we intend to do so. In conclusion, our results continue to demonstrate our ability to generate excellent earnings of cash flow. We believe our business strategy is working well over both the short and long term. We like our competitive position in the 2012 oilfield services market and are leveraged through a resumption in the growth of deepwater and subsea completion activity that is currently underway. The longer-term outlook for our deepwater and subsea service and product offerings remains favorable. Renewed industry and regulatory emphasis on reliable deepwater equipment with redundant safety features has caused our customers to be even more focused on risk reduction. This elevates the importance of the utility and reliability of our ROV services and related product line offerings and reinforces the benefit of our value sell. For 2012, we're anticipating that we will achieve another record year of EPS performance. We think this distinguishes Oceaneering from any other oilfield service companies. We appreciate everyone's interest in Oceaneering. I'll now be happy to take any questions you may have.