Oil services exchange traded funds are trading higher Monday ahead of the start of the industry’s earnings season and on expectations the current quarter is shaping up to be a busy one.
Shares of the Market Vectors Oil Service ETF (NYSEArca: OIH) are up 2.1% while the iShares U.S. Oil Equipment & Services ETF (NYSEArca: IEZ) is up almost 2%. The two ETFs each reside about 2.2% below their 52-week highs.
Sterne Agee analyst Stephen Gengaro says pent-up demand caused by harsh winter conditions in the first quarter should prompt a busy second quarter for the likes of Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) and Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), the world’s two largest providers of oil services. Gengaro “says difficult conditions across the U.S. negatively impacted efficiency at well sites during Q1. The problems included weather-related logistical difficulties and freezing temperatures that limited the ability to work,” reports Vance Cargiaga for Investor’s Business Daily.
The near-term catalysts for the $1.3 billion OIH and the $522.7 million IEZ come in the form of first-quarter earnings reports. On Thursday, Schlumberger and Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) step into the earnings confessional. Those stocks combine for almost 26% of OIH’s weight with 20.9% going to Schlumberger.
Next week, Halliburton, Cameron Interational (NYSE: CAM) and Noble (NYSE: NE), to name a few, deliver results. Those stocks combine for over 19% of OIH’s weight and nearly 17% of IEZ. These earnings reports and others from oil services firms arrive in what is typically a strong month for the group relative to the broader market. April OIH’s third-best month in terms of out-performance of the S&P 500 and OIH has topped the U.S. benchmark index in nearly two-thirds of Aprils dating back to 2000. [Grab Energy ETFs Right Now]