Will Hunting (LON:HTG) get a fuel injection following next week’s half year results?
For a while there the oil and gas services firm was having a great 2018. Opening at £6.15, the stock quickly overcame a dip to £5.57, eventually hitting a 5 year-plus high of £9.38 in the second half of May. Since then, however, things have trailed off.
The company hasn’t been able to escape the £7.50 to £8 trading bracket it fell into by the start of June, dragged lower by the various trade war troubles in the commodity sector. Hunting PLC now sits at a current trading price of £7.66.
The company’s last update came at the end of June, and caused the stock to briefly spike to £8.50. This despite Hunting stating that it was still taking a ‘cautious view on the rate of recovery in the wider market’ in the second half of 2018.
Nevertheless, the firm said it remained ‘comfortable’ with the market consensus for its full year performance, after seeing ‘strong activity levels within US onshore completions, improving sentiment in the US offshore market and localised regional improvements in the Asia Pacific and Middle East markets’.
Elsewhere things weren’t as rosy, with Europe and Canada suffering from lower drilling activity. The company went on to say that the Group’s US segment had returned to operating profitability, but with the rest of its divisions delivering an operating loss.
The reaction to Hunting’s half year results on Thursday 30th August may be down to just how big that US operating profit was against the size of the losses seen in the rest of the business. It’ll also be interesting to see how the trade war fears have impacted its performance and expectations for H2 2018.
Hunting PLC has a consensus rating of ‘Buy’ alongside an average target price of £7.58.
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