Wells Fargo Fine-Tunes RDC Estimates

Wells Fargo is fine-tuning its estimates on Rowan Companies, Inc. (NYSE: RDC).

“Despite utilization indicated lower than we had previously estimated in Q4 2010 and Q1 2011, we think the more important item for investors is RDC's $300,000/day LOI in Norway for the high-spec harsh environment N-Class rig Rowan Stavanger, as we believe it serves as a positive indicator of demand for premium assets in the Norwegian market,” Wells Fargo writes.

“We are lowering our Q4 2010E EPS $0.04 to $0.32 from $2.50 due to higher-than-estimated idle time. We are trimming our 2011E EPS $0.06 to $2.06 from $2.12 based on lower utilization of the rig fleet in H1, offset somewhat by a contract extension for the Ralph Coffman and a standby rate for the EXL III.”

Rowan Companies currently trades at $32.86.