NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of oil company Noble Corp. (NE) - Get Report were gaining 2.4% to $16.32 Tuesday as oil prices climb due to fighting in Libya.

WTI crude oil for April delivery was gaining 1.8% to $50.46 a barrel Tuesday afternoon, and Brent crude oil for April delivery was gaining 3.1% to $61.37 a barrel.

Fighting that threatens oilfields on Libya helped contribute to rising oil prices, according to Reuters. Rival forces in the country recently carried out attacks on oil terminals and an airport, according to the news service, leading to fears over supplies from the OPEC member.

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Despite the rising crude oil prices, the U.S. market is under pressure a day before the Energy Information Administration is set to release its new inventory data for the week of Feb. 27. Last week, the EIA said that U.S. crude inventories had risen to a new high.

Saudi Arabia recently imposed a higher official sell price (OSP) for crude oil, though it did not have an immediate impact on oil prices due to global oversupply.

"It may seem, at first, that this is the beginning of the end of the price war, but the OSP pricing was never really the transmission mechanism for Saudi output or price policy," John Kiduff, partner at Again Capital, told Reuters.

TheStreet Ratings team rates NOBLE CORP PLC as a Sell with a ratings score of D+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate NOBLE CORP PLC (NE) a SELL. This is driven by a few notable weaknesses, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity, weak operating cash flow, generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself and feeble growth in its earnings per share."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Energy Equipment & Services industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 450.2% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $174.06 million to -$609.57 million.
• Current return on equity is lower than its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a clear sign of weakness within the company. Compared to other companies in the Energy Equipment & Services industry and the overall market, NOBLE CORP PLC's return on equity significantly trails that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
• Net operating cash flow has decreased to $389.91 million or 27.88% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing the cash generation rate to the industry average, the firm's growth is significantly lower.
• Despite any intermediate fluctuations, we have only bad news to report on this stock's performance over the last year: it has tumbled by 39.38%, worse than the S&P 500's performance. Consistent with the plunge in the stock price, the company's earnings per share are down 450.00% compared to the year-earlier quarter. Naturally, the overall market trend is bound to be a significant factor. However, in one sense, the stock's sharp decline last year is a positive for future investors, making it cheaper (in proportion to its earnings over the past year) than most other stocks in its industry. But due to other concerns, we feel the stock is still not a good buy right now.
• NOBLE CORP PLC has experienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. The company has reported a trend of declining earnings per share over the past two years. However, the consensus estimate suggests that this trend should reverse in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, NOBLE CORP PLC swung to a loss, reporting -$0.67 versus $1.98 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($2.15 versus -$0.67).
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: NE Ratings Report