National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV): Today's Featured Basic Materials Winner

National Oilwell Varco (NOV) pushed the Basic Materials sector higher today making it today's featured basic materials winner. The sector as a whole closed the day up 2.2%. By the end of trading, National Oilwell Varco rose $2.62 (3.6%) to $75.36 on average volume. Throughout the day, 3.5 million shares of National Oilwell Varco exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 4.5 million shares. The stock ranged in a price between $74.17-$76.20 after having opened the day at $74.28 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $72.74. Other companies within the Basic Materials sector that increased today were: Entree Gold (EGI), up 27.7%, GeoPetro Resources Company (GPR), up 26.3%, ATP Oil & Gas (ATPG), up 21.4%, and Union Drilling (UDRL), up 20%.

• ACTIVE STOCK TRADERS: Check out TheStreet's special offer for Real Money, headlined by Jim Cramer, now!

National Oilwell Varco, Inc. designs, constructs, manufactures, and sells systems, components, and products for oil and gas drilling and production, as well as provides oilfield services and supplies, and supply chain integration services to the upstream oil and gas industry worldwide. National Oilwell Varco has a market cap of $31.41 billion and is part of the energy industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 13.5, equal to the average energy industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 8.4% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday. Currently there are 17 analysts that rate National Oilwell Varco a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and one rates it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates National Oilwell Varco as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income, attractive valuation levels and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins.

• You can view the full National Oilwell Varco Ratings Report.

On the negative front, Molycorp (MCP), down 28.5%, GeoMet (GMET), down 19.3%, Cereplast (CERP), down 13.9%, and Gasco Energy (GSX), down 12.9%, were all laggards within the basic materials sector with SandRidge Energy (SD) being today's basic materials sector laggard.

• Use our basic materials section to find sector-relevant news.
• Or find some new ideas from our top rated stocks lists.

For investors not wanting singular stock exposure, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the basic materials sector could consider Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB) while those bearish on the basic materials sector could consider ProShares Short Basic Materials Fd (SBM).

• Find other investment ideas from our top rated ETFs lists.

For more information on National Oilwell Varco Inc. click any of the following:

• National Oilwell Varco Inc. Stock Price

• National Oilwell Varco Inc. Analyst Ratings

• National Oilwell Varco Inc. Key Stats & Profile

• National Oilwell Varco Inc. Earnings

• National Oilwell Varco Inc. Ratio Comparison

• National Oilwell Varco Inc. Growth Rates

• National Oilwell Varco Inc. Balance Sheet

• National Oilwell Varco Inc. Cash Flow

• National Oilwell Varco Inc. Income Statement