Nordic American Benefiting from Exceptionally Strong Tanker Market

Source: Streetwise Reports   10/08/2019

Shares of Nordic American Tankers are trading 16.5% higher today setting a 52-week intraday high stock price as the company reported great demand for its Suezmax oil tankers.

Hamilton, Bermuda-headquartered international tanker company Nordic American Tankers Ltd. (NAT:NYSE) announced in a letter to shareholders and investors that the anticipated upswing in the tanker market has come to fruition. The release referenced that just two weeks ago the company advised that there would be strong market improvement for the firm’s Suezmax tankers.

The company wrote in the release, “We have for a long time informed you of this anticipated upswing in the tanker market…Seeing is believing and if anyone had doubts, last week, the international shipbroking firm of Clarkson Platou Research reported the largest week-on-week increase in the history of their freight index. From Thursday to Friday last week, reported Suezmax rates jumped 60% on the day and 400% on the month!”

Nordic American states in the report that “its uniform fleet of 23 Suezmax tankers have 21 units trading in the open spot market, ready to benefit from strengthening freights.” The firm indicates that presently “the Suezmax spot market is reported to about $68,000/day, and rising and the NAT operating costs are about $8,000/day per ship.”

The company noted that “a seasonal upturn was already in the making. However, the additional combination of increased demand from refineries around the world ramping up their production to supply low sulphur fuels for 2020 and reduced supply of new vessels are important structural factors.” Nordic American also advised that the temporary uncertainty around the Saudi Arabian oil production has created additional demand pressure. The company believes that the market bottomed out during 2018 and the industry will see further improvement going forward.

The company indicated that Q3/19 earnings for the period ending September 30, 2019, will be released on November 25, 2019, prior to the market open on that day. The company advised that Q3/19 results will not be much different from Q2/19 results.

The company remains excited about the prospects for the rest of fiscal year 2019 and further down the road. The company believes that it will remain in a very strong position with 21 of its 23 Suezmaxes in the spot market. This positioning will allow NAT to continue to directly benefit from the exceptional run up in Suezmax freight rates.

Nordic American Tankers is an international tanker company, which was incorporated in Hamilton, Bermuda in 1995. The company has an active trading fleet of 23 vessels, of which 21 are presently deployed in the spot market. The vessels in the company’s fleet are homogenous and interchangeable and the Suezmax tankers each can carry over 1 million barrels of oil.

Nordic American Tankers began the day with a market capitalization of about $439.2 million and approximately 142.6 million shares outstanding . The stock trades in a 52-week price range of $1.66-3.60/share. This morning, NAT shares opened at $3.18 (+$0.10, +3.25%) over yesterday’s $3.08 closing price. The stock has traded today between $3.07 and $3.60/share, setting a 52-week high intraday price and at present is trading at $3.59 (+0.51, 16.56%).

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( Companies Mentioned: NAT:NYSE, )