Goldman Sachs Reduces PT on Tidewater to $63, Neutral

Goldman Sachs reduced its price target on Tidewater TDW from $69 to $63. In a research report published today, Goldman decided to lower its price target after reducing its earnings per share estimates for 2012 and 2013. These reductions came in spite of Tidewater's Q1 results meeting market expectations. In the report, Goldman states, "TDW reported adjusted FY4Q11 EPS of $0.51 versus our estimate of $0.51 and consensus of $0.50. Both revenue and operating income were in-line with our estimate. We have lowered our fiscal 2012-2013 EPS estimates by 25%/11% to $2.69/$5.02 due to a lower utilization and dayrate assumptions as the international supply vessel market appears to be weaker than anticipated. We also raised our tax rate assumptions to 24% and 22% from 21% and 17% in fiscal 2012 and 2013. We note that our EBITDA estimates are 15% and 5% lower. We also lowered our 6-month EBITDA-based price target to $63 from $69 due to lower estimates." At the moment, Goldman has a Neutral rating on Tidewater. On Thursday, Tidewater lost 6.41% of its value to close the day at $53.46. In today's pre-market trading, however, its shares rose 0.12% to $53.52.