JPMorgan Starts Dril-Quip, Frank's At Neutral; Oceaneering At Underweight

JPMorgan's Sean Meakim initiated three offshore service companies reflecting the firm's top picks in a negative near-term outlook for the offshore oil market. Meakim initiated Oceaneering International (NYSE: OII), Dril-Quip, Inc. (NYSE: DRQ) and Franks International NV (NYSE: FI) at Underweight, Neutral and Neutral, respectively.

Meakim believes the three companies are stronger than most oil service companies. "With niche proprietary technology, attractive market dynamics including reasonable moats, and strong balance sheets, these companies represent some of the few remaining strategic assets within oil services," said Meakim.

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The analyst said there is significantly more downside risk to the offshore market to come, however. "With our base outlook for subsea equipment orders to remain below 2014 levels through 2017, we continue to see ~20–30 percent downside risk to industry expectations as the cadence of major deepwater FIDs stretches further right," said Meakim.

At Time Of Writing...

• Frank's International was up 0.64 percent at $14.82.
• Dril-Quip was down 0.13 percent at $60.45.
• Oceaneering International was down 0.19 percent at $31.41.