DryShips falls as analyst says growth is limited

DryShips shares fall as analyst says growth is limited because of ship contracts

• On 3:40 pm EDT, Tuesday October 27, 2009

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of drybulk shipper and offshore oil driller DryShips Inc. fell Tuesday, a day after the company said its third-quarter earnings sank from a year ago and one analyst said the stock might not have much more room to grow.

The Greek company said late Monday it earned $35.6 million, or 12 cents per share, down 80 percent from $180 million, or $4.13 per share, a year ago. Excluding an interest rate charge, the company would have made 27 cents per share, which topped Wall Street's expectation of 20 cents per share.

Revenue fell 30 percent to $228.2 million from $328 million in the 2008 third quarter.

The stock was down about 7.7 percent at $6.36 in late trading.

In a client note Tuesday, Jefferies & Co. analyst Douglas J. Mavrinac said the stock still doesn't have much room to grow because it has most of its ships under contract, so they can't take advantage of expected higher charter prices in the spot market. Drybulk ships carry a variety of dry goods including iron ore, coal and grain.