Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR) reported Q1 EPS of ($0.36), $0.10 worse than the analyst estimate of ($0.26). Revenue for the quarter came in at $800 million versus the consensus estimate of $776.1 million.

Anthony G. Petrello, Nabors Chairman, CEO and President, commented, "Our U.S. Drilling segment continues to perform exceptionally well as illustrated by a 10% sequential increase in quarterly adjusted EBITDA on a 5% increase in revenue. This was principally due to improved pricing on a slightly higher rig count in our Lower 48 operations. Our current rig count in the Lower 48 stands at 115 rigs, four more than both our quarterly average and our exit rate for the first quarter. Dayrates for our high-specification rigs continue to exceed the mid-$20,000 level. We expect to see further improvement in this market throughout the year. During the quarter, our International segment hampered our consolidated results due to activity and operational issues in Latin America. We anticipate compensating for these unfavorable items during the second quarter with additional rigs and improved operational performance. Canada also faced headwinds as the current market weakness resulted in an atypical sequential reduction in what should be our peak seasonal quarter."

Mr. Petrello continued, "During the quarter, we achieved several milestones in our various automation and integration initiatives that should bolster results going forward. Most notable among these was the securing of multiple commercial jobs for our Navigator™ and ROCKit® Pilot directional drilling automation systems. Today the majority of these installations are operated remotely with no directional drillers at the rig site. We also are seeing increasing adoption of our automated tubular running technologies and our rotary steerable system is delivering good results in customer field trials. Additionally, we installed and commissioned our first drill floor robot on a semisubmersible rig in the North Sea and signed a contract for our first complete robotic drill floor automation system. This system is planned for installation on a North Sea platform around the end of the year."

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