Top 5 Oil Service Companies To Buy Right Now

It's been more than three years since the spill at the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, and day by day the prospects for oil exploration there seem to get better. A recent report by Wood MacKenzie shows that production in the Gulf went up 6% last year, and another 4% is expected this year. By 2018, the research group�believes�that the Gulf will be back to its pre-Macondo-spill high in�production�of 2 million barrels per day. �

For this to happen, though, exploration and production companies will need to spend a pretty penny. Between now and 2015, E&P companies are expected to spend somewhere around $20 billion. In this video, fool.com contributor Tyler Crowe looks at what this could mean for oil services companies that specialize in offshore regions such as the Gulf.

Best Oil Service Stocks To Own For 2015: BE Aerospace Inc.(BEAV)

BE Aerospace, Inc. designs, manufactures, sells, and services commercial aircraft and business jet cabin interior products worldwide. The company?s Commercial Aircraft segment offers seat frames, cushions, armrests, and tray tables; various optional features, such as adjustable lumbar supports, footrests, reading lights, head/neck supports, and other comfort amenities; oxygen storage, distribution, and delivery systems for commercial and business jet aircrafts; aircraft coffee and beverage makers, and coffee warmers and water boilers; convection, steam, and warming ovens; commercial aircraft refrigeration equipment; modular lavatory systems; vacuum waste water and galley systems; and thermal and power management solutions. This segment also offers engineering, design, integration, installation, and certification services for commercial aircraft passenger cabin interiors; in-house capabilities to design, manage, integrate, test, and certify reconfigurations and modificatio ns for commercial aircraft and to manufacture related products, including engineering kits and interface components; and interior reconfiguration services. Its Consumables Management segment provides inventory management and replenishment, electronic data interchange, special packaging and bar-coding, parts kitting, quality assurance testing, and purchasing assistance services; and creative and differential supply chain solutions, such as 3PL and 4PL programs. This segment also distributes aerospace fasteners and consumables. The company?s Business Jet segment offers a line of furnishings for business jets, including seating and sofa products, such as electric fully berthing lie flat seats, direct and indirect lighting, air valves, oxygen delivery systems, sidewalls, bulkheads, credenzas, closets, galley structures, lavatories, and tables; and super first class cabin interior products for commercial wide-body aircraft. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Wellington, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  The Department of Defense awarded nine contracts worth a combined $239.5 million Monday. Among public companies, a few of the bigger winners included:

  General Electric (NYSE: GE  ) won a $45.2 million award exercising an option on a previously awarded contract. GE will supply the U.S. Navy with seven F414-GE-400 spare engines and multiple engine components for its F/A-18E/F fighter jets.�This contract should be complete by November 2015. Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH  ) is a winner in a $30.9 million award under an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ), cost-plus-fixed-fee, multiple-award contract "for support of emerging navigation technologies for air and shipboard command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance system applications."�The DoD's contract announcement said a second, unnamed contractor has won a similar award, and both awardees will now have to compete for individual task orders the Navy may put up for bid over the next three years. Additionally, this contract may be extended by a two-year option period -- potentially raising the value of the contract to $52.7 million, and potentially extending the contract out to May 5, 2016. B/E Aerospace (NASDAQ: BEAV  ) was awarded an unrelated maximum $6.6 million contract. B/E will supply various engine parts, avionics, wheels, and brakes to the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force, as needed through May 5, 2017.

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• [By Anna Prior]

  B/E Aerospace Inc.(BEAV) said over the weekend that it was considering a possible sale or split as part of a strategic review, canceling an investor meeting scheduled for Monday. Shares rose 11% premarket.

• [By Rich Smith]

  On Tuesday, airplane interiors outfitter B/E Aerospace (NASDAQ: BEAV  ) announced that one of its customers has just hired it to retrofit its fleet of Boeing (NYSE: BA  ) 737 airplanes with new, smaller lavatories. Henceforth, fearers of flying can add claustrophobia to their worry-list.

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  B/E Aerospace (BEAV) is a manufacturer of cabin interior products for commercial aircraft and business jets and a distributor of aerospace fasteners and consumables. This stock closed up 1.4% at $72.24 in Wednesday's trading session.

  Wednesday's Volume: 1.37 million
  
  Three-Month Average Volume: 834,650
  
  Volume % Change: 70%

  From a technical perspective, BEAV bounced higher here right above some near-term support at $70 and into new 52-week-high territory with strong upside volume. This stock has been uptrending strong for the last six months, with shares moving higher from its low of $51.53 to its intraday high of $72.79. During that move, shares of BEAV have been making mostly higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in BEAV as long as it's trending above support at $70 or above more support at $68.15 and then once it sustains a move or close above Wednesday's high of $72.79 with volume that hits near or above 834,650 shares. If we get that move soon, then BEAV will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $75 to $80.

Top 5 Oil Service Companies To Buy Right Now: News Corporation(NWS)

News Corporation operates as a diversified media company worldwide. Its Cable Network Programming segment produces and licenses news, business news, sports, general entertainment, and movie programming for distribution through cable television systems and direct broadcast satellite operators primarily in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. The company?s Filmed Entertainment segment produces and acquires live-action and animated motion pictures for distribution and licensing in entertainment media, as well as produces and licenses television programming worldwide. Its Television segment operates 27 broadcast television stations in the United States. The company?s Direct Broadcast Satellite Television segment distributes programming services via satellite and broadband directly to subscribers in Italy. Its Publishing segment provides newspapers and information services, such as publishing national newspapers in the United Kingdom, approximately 146 newspape rs in Australia, and a metropolitan and a national newspaper in the United States; book publishing services, including the publishing of English language books worldwide; and integrated marketing services comprising the publishing of free-standing inserts, which are marketing booklets containing coupons, rebates, and other consumer offers, as well as provides in-store marketing products and services, primarily to consumer packaged goods manufacturers in the United States and Canada. The company also sells advertising, sponsorships, and subscription services on the company?s various digital media properties and outdoor advertising space on various media primarily in Russia and eastern Europe; and provides data systems and professional services that enable teachers to use data to assess student progress and deliver individualized instructions. News Corporation was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Monica Gerson]

  News Corp (NASDAQ: NWS) reported a profit of $506 million, or $0.87 per share for the year ended June 30, versus a year-ago loss of $2.08 billion, or $3.58 per share. Its revenue rose 2.7% to $8.89 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.57 per share on revenue of $8.96 billion. News Corp shares fell 1.28% to close at $16.91 on Friday.

• [By Eric Bleeker, CFA, Lyons George, and Alison Southwick]

  Finally, parent company�News Corp.� (NASDAQ: NWS  ) could even start a cable network based solely on the show. Such an idea is far from crazy, as the company's COO has said at investor conferences that the idea has been considered.�

• [By CNNMoney Staff]

  News Corp (NWS) shares jumped following quarterly earnings that beat expectations.

  Shares of Outerwall Inc. (OUTR), which produces Redbox and Coinstar dispensers, surged 12% on news that the company plans to buy back $350 million worth of stock.

• [By Reuters]

  Warren is in the house.

  - Warren Buffett (@WarrenBuffett) May 2, 2013 The handle wasn't officially verified by Twitter, but was confirmed by Fortune magazine, which hosted Buffett for a live webcast Thursday. It was billed as the first social media event for the notoriously technology-averse billionaire. If followers were dollars, Buffett is having even more success on Twitter than he had with one of his best investments ever, his 2008 stake in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS). That deal gave him preferred stock that paid dividends at $900 a minute. On Twitter, he has gathered 1,000 followers a minute. By joining Twitter, the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) chief executive officer now stands in good mogul company. Other relatively recent converts to the service include News Corp. (NWS) CEO Rupert Murdoch (@RupertMurdoch) and former U.S. President Bill Clinton (@BillClinton).

Top 5 Oil Service Companies To Buy Right Now: SEACOR Holdings Inc (CKH)

SEACOR Holdings Inc, incorporated on November 7, 1989, is a global provider of equipment and services primarily supporting the offshore oil and gas and marine transportation industries. The Company offers customers a diversified suite of services, including offshore marine, aviation, inland river, marine transportation, crisis and emergency management preparedness and response solutions, commodity trading and logistics and offshore and harbor towing. On March 19, 2012, J.F. Lehman & Company acquired National Response Corporation and its affiliated businesses NRC Environmental Services, SEACOR Response, and SEACOR Environmental Products (collectively NRC) from the Company. In January 2013, the Company sold its energy trading division, SEACOR Energy Inc. to Par Petroleum Corporation. On January 31, 2013, it completed the spin off its Era Group Inc unit (Era).

Offshore Marine Services

The Company�� Marine operates a diversified fleet of vessels, servicing the offshore oil and gas exploration, development, and production industry worldwide.The Company�� marine provides its customers with the assembly of offshore vessel services in the global offshore oil and gas industry, including transport of personnel, platform supply, offshore accommodation, intervention, maintenance and repair support, standby safety services, anchor handling and mooring services, wind farm support, lift boat services, offshore construction support, well enhancement support, and lightering services.

Aviation Services

The Company�� aviation services subsidiary, Era Group (Era), is the helicopter operators globally. ra supports the oil and gas industry in the United States Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and internationally. Era provides air medical services, firefighting support, flightseeing tours in Alaska, and Search and Rescue and Emergency Medical Services. Era's affiliate, Era Training Center, offers flight training services. Era also markets and distributes specialty helicopter! equipment and accessories.

Inland River Services

The Company�� Inland River Services group owns and operates modern river transportation equipment; owns covered and open hopper barges, 10,000 and 30,000 barrel tank barges, deck barges, inland river towboats and smaller harbor boats; and provides ancillary services along the United States Inland River Waterways and the Parana-Paraguay and the Magdalena River Systems in South America. SCF Marine operates a fleet of hopper barges along the United States Inland River Waterways and South America, transporting agricultural, industrial, and project cargoes. The liquid division, Supercritical Fluid (SCF) Liquids, is a integrated towboat and tank barge company, specializing in the transportation of chemical, clean, and dirty products. Gateway Terminals is among the newest ethanol and petroleum storage terminals on the Mississippi River, with a capacity of 400,000 barrels and the ability to receive and transfer products by barge, unit train, and truck.

Marine Transportation Services

The Company�� ocean shipping and harbor towing subsidiary, SEACOR Ocean Transport, is an owner and operator of equipment engaged in oil transportation, bunkering, harbor towing, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal support, short sea shipping and logistics, and third-party ship management services. Through all aspects of its operations, SEACOR Ocean Transport focuses to provide its customers with marine transportation solutions.

Commodity Trading and Logistics

The Company�� Commodity Trading and Logistics group specializes in the purchase, storage, transportation, and sale of agricultural and energy commodities, which include renewable fuels, blendstocks, sugar, rice, and salt. The Agricultural group is primarily focused on the global sourcing and logistics of sugar, rice, salt, and other dry bulk products. The Energy group is primarily focused on the domestic trading and transportation of physical e! thanol an! d clean blendstocks.

Harbor and Offshore Towing Services

The Company�� ocean shipping and harbor towing subsidiary, SEACOR Ocean Transport, is an operator of equipment engaged in oil transportation, bunkering, harbor towing, LNG terminal support, short sea shipping and logistics, and third-party ship management services. The harbor towing services group, Seabulk Towing, is a tugboat operator with operations along the Gulf Coast and Southeastern seaboard port system from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to Port Arthur, Texas. Seabulk Island Transport owns and operates four ocean tugs and five ocean liquid tank barges.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Margins matter. The more Seacor Holdings (NYSE: CKH  ) keeps of each buck it earns in revenue, the more money it has to invest in growth, fund new strategic plans, or (gasp!) distribute to shareholders. Healthy margins often separate pretenders from the best stocks in the market. That's why we check up on margins at least once a quarter in this series. I'm looking for the absolute numbers, so I can compare them to current and potential competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong Seacor Holdings's competitive position could be.

Top 5 Oil Service Companies To Buy Right Now: Titan Machinery Inc (TITN)

Titan Machinery Inc., incorporated in 1980, owns and operates a network of agricultural and construction equipment stores in the United States and Europe. The Company is a retail dealer of Case IH Agriculture equipment and a retail dealer of New Holland Agriculture, Case Construction and New Holland Construction equipment in the United States. It operates in two segments: Agriculture and Construction. The agricultural equipment, which it sells and services includes machinery and attachments for uses ranging from large-scale farming to home and garden use. The construction equipment it sells and services includes heavy construction and light industrial machinery for commercial and residential construction, road and highway construction and mining. On February 28, 2011, it acquired certain assets of Tri-State Implement, Inc. On March 31, 2011, the Company acquired interest in Schoffman's Inc. In July 2012, the Company acquired Curly Olney��, Inc. and opened two Case IH dealerships in Cluj and Roman, Romania. In November 2012, the Company acquired Falcon Power Inc. In December 2012, the Company acquired VAIT D.o.o. In February 2013, it acquired Tucson Tractor Company. In March 2013, it acquired Adobe CE, LLC, consisting of one Case Construction equipment dealership located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

On April 1, 2011, the Company acquired certain assets of ABC Rental & Equipment Sales. On May 13, 2011, the Company acquired certain assets of Carlson Tractor & Equipment, Inc. On May 31, 2011, the Company acquired certain assets of St. Joseph Equipment Inc. On September 2, 2011, the Company acquired certain assets of Virgl Implement Inc. On September 2, 2011, the Company acquired certain assets of Victors Inc. On November 1, 2011, the Company acquired certain assets of Van Der Werff Implement, Inc. On December 1, 2011, the Company acquired certain assets of Jewell Implement Company, Inc. On December 23, 2011, the Company, through a newly formed subsidiary, Titan Machinery Romania, S.R.L., ac! quired certain assets of AgroExpert Capital S.R.L. On February 27, 2012, the Company acquired certain assets of the Colorado division of Adobe Truck & Equipment, LLC. On March 5, 2012, the Company acquired certain assets of Rimex 1-Holding EAD. On March 30, 2012, the Company acquired certain assets of Haberer's Implement, Inc. On April 2, 2012, the Company acquired certain assets of East Helena Rental, LLC.

Equipment Sales

The Company sells agricultural and construction equipment manufactured under the CNH family of brands, as well as equipment from a variety of other manufacturers. The used equipment it sells is from inventory acquired through trade-ins from its customers and selective purchases. The agricultural equipment, which it sells and services includes application equipment and sprayers, combines and attachments, hay and forage equipment, planting and seeding equipment, precision farming technology, tillage equipment and tractors. The construction equipment, which the Company sells and services includes articulated trucks, compact track loaders, compaction equipment, cranes, crawler dozers, excavators, forklifts, loader/backhoes, loader/tool carriers, motor graders, skid steer loaders, telehandlers and wheel loaders. The Company also sells used equipment through its outlet stores.

Parts Sales

The Company sells a range of maintenance and replacement parts on equipment that it sells, as well as other types of equipment. It maintains an in-house parts inventory to provide parts, and repair and maintenance support to its customers.

Repair and Maintenance Services

The Company provides repair and maintenance services, including warranty repairs, for its customers equipment. In addition, the Company provides customer service by maintaining service histories for each piece of equipment owned by its customers, maintaining around-the-clock service hours, providing on-site repair services, scheduling off-season maintenance acti! vities wi! th customers, notifying customers of periodic service requirements and providing training programs to customers.

Equipment Rental and Other Business Activities

The Company rents equipment to its customers on a short-term basis for periods ranging from a few days to a few months. In addition, the Company provides ancillary equipment support activities, such as equipment transportation, global positioning system (GPS) signal subscriptions in connection with precision farming and reselling CNH Capital finance and insurance products.

The Company competes with RDO Equipment Co., Butler Machinery, Ziegler Inc. and Brandt Holdings Co.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  1. Titan Machinery will close lower on the week
  Titan Machinery (NASDAQ: TITN  ) is in a slump. Analysts have been slashing their projections for the specialty retailer of agricultural and construction equipment. One would think that construction would be on the rise given the housing boom. An improving economy should benefit farmers. However, Titan Machinery isn't cashing in on the trends.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  I went out on a limb last week, and now it's time to see how that decision played out.

  I predicted that Titan Machinery (NASDAQ: TITN  ) would close lower on the week. The specialty retailer of agricultural and construction equipment has been disappointing on the bottom line in recent quarters, and analysts were expecting Titan to post its first quarterly deficit since going public six years ago come Thursday. It did. The stock declined 0.5% on the week. I was right. I predicted that the tech-heavy Nasdaq would outperform the Dow Jones Industrial Average. (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) . This has been a tricky call lately, so how did it play out this time? Well, the market saved itself by rallying on Friday. The Nasdaq moved 0.4% higher on the week. The Dow managed to close 0.9% lower. I was wrong. My final call was for Francesca's Holdings (NASDAQ: FRAN  ) to beat Wall Street's income estimates in its latest quarter. The rapidly expanding boutique operator has been posting blowout quarterly results over the past year, and I was banking on seeing the trend continue. Analysts were looking for a profit of $0.26 a share during the quarter, and it merely matched that target. That was close, but not what I had predicted. I was wrong.

  One out of three? Bummer! I was an impressive 16 out of 18 over the six previous weeks.