Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) from UNDERPERFORM to NEUTRAL on March 19, 2013, with a target price of $17.00.
Following Nabors Industries' fourth quarter earnings beat and the initiation of a quarterly cash dividend, we are upgrading the onshore contract drillers' shares to Neutral from Underperform. Barbados-based Nabors reported better-than-anticipated December quarter profits on the back of strong operational execution. The company also recently announced that it will start paying quarterly dividends. With leading positions in most natural gas and oil-based shale plays, Nabors is already a big player North American land drilling market. However, we remain concerned about weak natural gas fundamentals, which are likely to limit the company's ability to generate positive earnings surprises. Nabors' fairly debt-heavy balance sheet also remains an issue.
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