DryShips Meets Views; No Word on Drillships

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- DryShips(DRYS) matched analysts' expectations for fourth-quarter profit, putting an end to a corporate voyage in 2009 that the company's executives likely won't want to experience again.

After Thursday's closing bell, the Athens-based shipping concern reported that, excluding a series of one-time charges, it would have earned $65.8 million in the fourth quarter, or 23 cents a share.

Revenue came to $193.5 million, which missed the consensus Wall Street target of $215.7 million, according to a survey of analysts by Thompson Reuters.

The one-time items totaled $64 million, much of which came from forfeited deposits after the company canceled orders for two vessels from a shipyard. Other charges were related to amortization of revenue, debt costs and stock compensation for employees, and marked-to-market losses on hedging instruments.

Taking all that into account, DryShips' true bottom line came to a profit of just $1.4 million, or a penny a share. A year ago, the company reported a loss of more than $1 billion after taking a $700 million goodwill impairment charge amid the collapse in shipping rates induced by the financial crisis. Revenue a year ago was $218 million.

Investors have long been awaiting word that DryShips has chartered out two of the four deepwater oil rigs -- called drillships -- currently being built by a Korean shipyard. To meet its goal of an IPO of its drillships business this year, the company requires those charter contracts. Executives have been promising an announcement for months, but none came on Thursday.

DryShips' boss, George Economou, did at least address the issue obliquely. "We are working to release the value in the drilling business with a potential IPO, at some stage this year, creating what we believe to be the only pure-play ultra deepwater player," he said in a statement. "We appreciate the support and patience of our shareholders and are working tirelessly to create shareholder value and highlight the attractive valuation of our Company."