DryShips Cruises on Upgrade

ATHENS, Greece (TheStreet) -- DryShips (DRYS) shares moved sharply higher Friday morning thanks to favorable broker action.

Analysts at Credit Suisse upgraded the drybulk shipper's stock to outperform from neutral. The equity research firm also lifted its price target on DryShips by $4 to $9.

DryShips shares added 5.3% Friday morning to trade around $6.32. Nearly 14 million shares were in play less than 90 minutes into the session, compared with their average daily trading volume of 22.6 million.

Last week DryShips said its offshore drilling subsidiary plans to raise $500 million in a private offering .

>>DryShips Surges on Subsidiary's Private Offering

DryShips said its wholly-owned Ocean Rig UDW unit's planned offering is expected to close before the end of 2010. The offering will be made to Norwegian professionals and eligible counterparties under Norwegian trading regulations, to non-U.S. residents and in a concurrent private placement in the United States only to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act.

Proceeds from the sale are "expected to be used to finance construction costs of the ultra deepwater newbuilding drillships under construction at Samsung, exercise options to build further ultra deepwater drillships and general corporate purposes."

The offering will reduce DryShips' ownership stake in Ocean Rig to between 78% and 80%.

Separately, DryShips said it completed its ATM Equity Offering, raising around $350 million since initiating the offering on Sept. 7.

Earlier last week DryShips' Ocean Rig UDW subsidiary signed a $77 million contract with Borders & Southern Petroleum for a 2-well exploration and drilling pact in the offshore Falkland Islands area for a period of 90 days, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2011.

>>DryShips Trades Higher on Drill Deal

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