Noble Corporation Plc (NE) Stock

Noble Corporation Plc (NE) is a Energy stock trading at $48.10 (as of 2026-09-02), with a market capitalization of $7.68B and a trailing P/E of 51.3. Figures are sourced from first-party U.S. SEC EDGAR filings and market data.

Noble Corporation plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore contract drilling services for the oil and gas industry using a fleet of mobile offshore drilling units. It operates floaters and jackups and, as of February 16, 2022, had 20 units in service worldwide.

Understand Noble Corporation Plc: how it makes money

Noble operates 20 offshore drilling rigs (12 floaters, 8 jackups) and earns daily drilling fees from oil and gas companies. Revenue is almost entirely contract drilling, with the deepwater floater fleet driving the majority of profit and subject to multi-year contracting cycles.

Revenue is a function of rig-days at contracted daily rates; the deepwater floater fleet commands sharply higher dayrates than jackups, making floater utilization and contract renewal timing the core profit driver.

Business quality (Weak): Thin margins (4% operating), declining revenue, and a 49x P/E on a cyclical, capital-intensive fleet make current earnings quality weak.

Valuation: At 49× earnings, NE trades 205% above the Petroleum & Natural Gas average (16×).

Bull case

  • Floater fleet nearly fully locked in: Marketed Floater Fleet Contracted sits at 93%, meaning the high-dayrate deepwater units are almost fully pre-sold. That gives multi-quarter revenue visibility and sharply reduces the risk of rigs sitting idle.
  • $1.3B in new contract awards: New Contract Awards total $1.3B, equivalent to 15 rig-years of future work, indicating the backlog is being actively replenished and the fleet is positioned to work through a contracted cycle.

Bear case

  • Premium valuation on declining earnings: The stock trades at 49.1x earnings versus a 16x industry average (a 205% premium) while quarterly revenue is down 15% year over year. That spread prices in a recovery the current numbers do not yet support.
  • Razor-thin margin profile: Operating margin is 4% on quarterly revenue of $700M, leaving almost no cushion if dayrates soften or utilization slips. A single idle month on a deepwater unit could wipe out a meaningful share of profit.
Valuation — source: SEC EDGAR (first-party)
Price$48.10
Market Cap$7.68B
P/E Ratio51.3
EV / EBITDA26.1
Price / Book1.71
Price / Sales2.50
DCF Value (model)$9.92
DCF Upside vs Price-79.4%
Profitability & Growth — source: SEC EDGAR
Revenue (TTM)$3.29B
Net Margin6.6%
Revenue Growth (YoY)-15.2%
EPS Growth (YoY)-185.2%
Financial Health — source: SEC EDGAR
Altman Z-Score2.25 (grey)
Valuation vs Sector & Industry
Stock P/E51.3
Sector P/E (Energy)16.1
Industry P/E (Petroleum & Natural Gas)15.4
vs Sector219.5%
vs Industry233.5%
Smart-Money Activity — SEC Form 4 / 13F / Congressional disclosures
Top Institutional HolderBlackRock, Inc. ($931.69M)
Institutional Holders Tracked10
Company
SectorEnergy
IndustryPetroleum & Natural Gas
CEORobert W. Eifler
Employees5,000
CountryUS
IPO Date2021-06-09

Related Companies (Petroleum & Natural Gas; 8 comparable companies)

  • Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (PTEN)
  • Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (HP)
  • HighPeak Energy, Inc. (HPK)
  • SM Energy Company (SM)
  • Range Resources Corporation (RRC)
  • Crescent Energy Company (CRGY)
  • California Resources Corporation (CRC)
  • Murphy Oil Corporation (MUR)
NE earnings history · NE institutional & insider holders · NE KPIs & operating metrics · NE financials · NE investor presentations & press releases · NE SEC filings · NE peers · Congress trades · Insider trades · Short interest · Stock screener

Data as of 2026-09-02.

Figures sourced from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC EDGAR) filings and market data. Not personalized investment advice.