Deepwater Market Outlook Improves with Noble Corp Report

Noble Corp, (NYSE:NE) turned in a pretty solid report for Q-1 this week, and gave a forecast that caused the stock to rally sharply, up 12%, on the news. Over the course of the day, where oil prices had dropped to around $60, it managed to hold onto a good chunk of that gain. Key among the salient points of the release was the announcement of a $2.0-$2.5 bn addition to the company's backlog in the quarter, bringing the total to $7.5 bn on the upside. Anytime you can announce a 30% increase in future contracted revenues, you're doing something right…