NEW YORK (AP) -- Transocean fell more than 5 percent Friday as an analyst cut his rating on the oil drilling company partly because of rising costs and increasing downtime.
THE SPARK: Mike Urban of Deutsche Bank lowered Transocean to "Sell" from "Hold." He reiterated a $49 price target.
THE ANALYSIS: In a client note, Urban said that a fleet status report revealed a 7 percent increase in 2013 downtime. The analyst also said that the estimated downtime for 2014 of 2,131 days is up an additional 5 percent from this year and higher than what he expected.
Urban was also concerned that costs are climbing even as rates are flattening.
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn boosted his stake in Transocean last month to about 5.6 percent.
SHARE ACTION: Transocean Ltd.'s stock dropped $3.10, or 5.2 percent, to $56.20 in afternoon trading. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $39.32 to $59.50.
