Hercules Looking Less Heroic in 3Q

HOUSTON (TheStreet) -- Hercules Offshore -- which, funny enough, goes by the ticker on the NASDAQ -- turned in a less than gallant, if not downright wimpy, outlook for its third quarter.

And investors were pummeling the stock, making it the big loser on an already bad day for energy shares, sending the stock down 77 cents, or 12.2%, at $5.52 in the afternoon. Though shares are up since the year began, they've lost more than $1 in the last few days of trading.

Late Wednesday afternoon, the offshore driller released a press release, saying that revenue was expected around $155 million to $160 million. According to a group of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, most were expecting Hercules Offshore to turn in a more robust $165.4 million sales figure for the quarter.

In a separate release, the Houston-based operation also said it would put 17.5 million shares of stock on the public sale block. The equity offering will also include another 2.6 million shares as an underwriters' option.

Other driller-sector players were trading better on the day, though still in the red. Shares of Diamond Offshore(DO Quote), Noble(NE Quote) and Ensco(ESV Quote) were changing hands down 1.5%, 2% and 1.4%, respectively.

-- Written by Sung Moss in New York

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