Q4 2005 Cooper Cameron Earnings Conference Call - Final.

Original Source: FD (FAIR DISCLOSURE) WIRE

OPERATOR: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Cooper Cameron Corporation's fourth-quarter earnings conference call. (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. Scott Amann, Vice President of Investor Relations for Cooper Cameron Corporation. Thank you. You may begin.

SCOTT AMANN, VP, INVESTOR RELATIONS, COOPER CAMERON CORPORATION: Thank you. Good morning, and thanks to all of you for joining us today. As a reminder, if you haven't accessed the release yet, it is available on the wire services, as well as on our Website. This morning, you will hear from both Shel Erikson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cooper Cameron, and Franklin Myers, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Shel will begin with a few comments on the quarter, Franklin will follow with his perspective on the results, and we'll then take time to field your questions.

In accordance with the Safe Harbor provisions of the securities laws, we caution you that some of the statements made on this call may be forward-looking in nature, and as such are subject to various factors not under the control of the Company. For a more complete description of these factors and of related risks and uncertainties, please refer to Cooper Cameron's annual report on Form 10-K, the Company's most recent Form 10-Q, and the associated news release. With that I will now turn things over to Shel.

SHEL ERIKSON, CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT, CEO, COOPER CAMERON CORPORATION: Thanks, Scott. We did have a good year. The strength of our markets and business that was demonstrated in prior quarters continued in the fourth quarter. Notwithstanding our abnormally-high tax rate in the quarter, we reported earnings of $0.47 a share, up 74% from a year ago, and $1.52 for the year, which is up 73% from 2004. Net income for the quarter was up 89% and 81% for the year, so it was a strong year.

Revenues for the quarter were up 35% compared to last year and up 20% for the full year. EBITDA for the quarter was up 73% compared to last year, and 46% for the full year. The actual drop through EBITDA incremental -- on the incremental revenue came through at about 25% for both the quarter and the year.

Orders for the quarter were up 23% compared to last year and 72% for the year, and all operating segments showed strong order intake for the year. As an example, our drilling systems in Cameron had orders more than 100% greater than a year ago. Our surface business approach 50% greater than a year ago. Our subsea business was up north of 100% from a year ago. Our separation business, Petreco, was up over 40% for the year. Our valve business was up over 100% for the year, and compression was up 22%. So all the segments showed good order intake for the year, and the market outlook, as far as I can see, is continuing on right now.