Jefferies Maintains Buy on Hercules Offshore

Jefferies is out with its report today on Hercules Offshore HERO, maintaining Buy. In its report, Jefferies writes, "Confirming the building strength in the GOM jack-up market, HERO's fleet status released last night reflected a significant increase in backlog at rates generally above our expectations and well above prior rates." Jefferies maintains an $8 PT on HERO. Shares of HERO closed Thursday at $3.22, down 3.59% from Wednesday's close.