Institutional ticker directory tracking stock mentions, long/short ideas, and high-conviction pitches extracted from quarterly hedge fund letters.
| Ticker | Company | Sector | Industry | Pitches | Stance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fund / Manager | Thesis Excerpt | Stance | Period / Date | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Old West Investment Management Portfolio Manager | “Tidewater has the largest fleet of offshore support vessels in the industry and is the oldest and most experienced provider of marine support services to the offshore oil and gas sector, operating across more than 60 countries. Tidewater was a top contributor last quarter, and in Q2 it gave some of that back for one reason: the price of oil. The U.S.–Iran agreement took the war premium out of oil, and Brent fell from a high of $126 back below $80. Offshore stocks trade with oil, so TDW fell from its April highs even though it remained up nicely for the year. The fundamentals have not changed: vessel supply is tight, the global fleet is old, and oil is still well above where the year began.” | BULL | Q2 2026 Aug 26, 2026 | View Pitch |
Black Bear Value Partners Adam Schwartz | “TDW declined approximately 20% during the second quarter but remains up roughly 32% year-to-date. Tidewater is the world's largest owner and operator of offshore support vessels (” | BULL | Q2 2026 Aug 6, 2026 | View Pitch |
Black Bear Value Partners Adam Schwartz | “TDW declined approximately 20% during the second quarter but remains up roughly 32% year-to-date. Tidewater is the world's largest owner and operator of offsho...” | NEUTRAL | Q2 2026 Aug 6, 2026 | View Pitch |
Third Avenue Value Fund Matthew Fine | “However, on the more frustrating end of the performance ledger were Tidewater, Valaris, Harbour Energy, BMW and Jardine Cycle & Carriage. Although, it should be noted that both Tidewater and Valaris remain among the strongest contributors to Fund performance year-to-date. Tidewater, Valaris and Harbour share a close association with offshore energy production. The former two companies provide offshore energy services through Tidewater's operation of the world's largest fleet of platform supply vessels and Valaris' operation of one of the world's largest fleets of offshore drilling rigs. The shares of Tidewater and Valaris have declined significantly from recent highs. It is not entirely surprising that this group of investments weakened as a perceived line of sight to an end of the war in Iran and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz recently came into view, though we feel strongly that this type of knee-jerk reaction belies a few key points. First, governments across the world have become materially more focused on energy security as a result of recent intermittent energy supply shocks. This is likely to be an enduring trend, in our view. The growing energy conscientiousness is likely to add pace and amplitude to a cyclical recovery that was already building in the offshore energy services industry. A drive to create energy security and resilience against price shocks has been impacting the policy of many governments and companies in recent years, particularly following the energy supply disruptions that occurred as Russia invaded Ukraine. Energy price declines from recent highs are unlikely to diminish those agendas, in our view.” | BULL | Q2 2026 Jul 17, 2026 | View Pitch |
Black Bear Value Partners Adam Schwartz | “Tidewater (TDW) is a marine services firm that operates one of the world's largest fleets of offshore support vessels (OSV's). They serve the energy industry by transporting crew and supplies, towing and anchoring drillships and supporting offshore construction projects. The long-term outlook for international and offshore markets is strong while the near-term is a little cloudier. As current resource plays (the Permian) slow down, worldwide demand will continue to grow and require more oil. It is expected that offshore capital commitments will rebound in the next 1-2 years. What's striking about this industry is the lack of investment in the OSV fleet. Since the GFC, global shipyard capacity has shrunk by nearly 60%. In addition, new build investment is lacking as many banks have pulled back from lending. Over the next decade, as fleets age, the global OSV market is expected to shrink by ~40%. This adds up to a potential for large pricing moves, in our favor, coupled with high utilization. We do not have to bank on that as they are currently generating $300MM+ in FCF vs. a $2.5bb market cap or a 12% yield. In a more normal environment, I'd expect them to generate 500mm-1bb which gets to ~20-40% yields. Importantly their share buybacks were historically limited by debt covenants. That debt has been paid off (they have minimal debt now) and they recently instituted a buyback plan for $500MM. BSD Analysis: Tidewater is a primary beneficiary of the 2026 offshore energy super-cycle, operating the world's largest fleet of specialized OSVs. With offshore E&P spending reaching a record 35% of total global energy investment, Tidewater is capitalizing on extreme vessel undersupply that is pushing day rates to decade highs. The company reported record net income of $161 million entering 2026, supported by an ultra-lean net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 0.77x. Analysts view the current cycle as durable, as new vessel orders placed today are not expected for delivery until at least 2027.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Feb 5, 2026 | View Pitch |
“Tidewater operates in the highly consolidated offshore energy services sector, which is benefiting from a tight supply-demand balance and strong pricing power. Although the manager trimmed some exposure above $100, the stock remains a high-conviction position due to double-digit free cash flow yields and intelligent share repurchases. The manager believes that earnings will reaccelerate as industry activity builds against constrained supply, driving the stock price much higher.” | BULL | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch | |
“In recent years, we experienced this firsthand during the rapid repricing in the offshore energy sector, when stocks such as Tidewater moved from deeply discounted levels to reflecting a large portion of expected earnings growth in a matter of months. The rapidity of the move surprised many, but the groundwork had been laid by years of underinvestment and consolidation. Offshore energy services provide a current example of this non-linear runway. Following a prolonged downturn after the last commodity cycle, offshore oil service companies were widely viewed as uninvestable. Years of underinvestment, restructuring, and bankruptcies dramatically reduced capacity and forced the surviving companies to rebuild with far more conservative balance sheets. Between 2020 and 2024, offshore services began to recover as the consequences of that reset became clear. The extended downturn permanently removed a meaningful portion of global supply. Rightsizing and operational discipline drove substantial efficiency gains, making many offshore projects economic even at oil prices well below recent levels. The result has been a sharp tightening in the supply-demand balance. Companies such as Tidewater that emerged from restructuring with improved balance sheets were positioned to benefit disproportionately. With consolidated fleets, restored capital discipline, and replacement costs far above asset values, pricing power returned to a sector long characterized by extreme cyclicality. The volatility in Tidewater's share price highlights the exaggerations created by modern fund flows. We reduced exposure as the stock surged above $100, while the company itself aggressively repurchased shares at an average price near $39 in early 2025. Throughout this period, Tidewater has continued to generate double-digit free cash flow yields and reinvest that capital to increase per-share value. As industry activity continues to build against a constrained supply base, we believe earnings will reaccelerate and market perception will once again be forced to adjust. BSD Analysis: Tidewater Inc. is navigating a "high-utilization" cycle in 2026, with vessel utilization rates climbing toward 80% as offshore oil and gas exploration activity intensifies globally. The company is the primary beneficiary of a multi-year recovery in offshore drilling, leveraging the world's largest fleet of OSVs to drive significant day-rate expansion. For 2026, the investment thesis is anchored by a significant improvement in free cash flow, which is being prioritized for debt reduction and potential shareholder returns. While the company still carries a notable debt load, the structural undersupply of high-specification vessels provides Tidewater with formidable pricing power. Management is focusing on the "large-vessel" segment, where demand is most acute in markets like the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa. As offshore projects move into full-scale production, Tidewater's role as an essential service provider offers a resilient earnings floor for the current cycle.” | BEAR | Q4 2025 Dec 31, 2025 | View Pitch | |
Black Bear Value Partners Adam Schwartz | “Tidewater is a marine services firm that operates one of the world's largest fleets of offshore support vessels (OSVs). They serve the energy industry by transporting crew and supplies, towing and anchoring drillships and supporting offshore construction projects. The long-term outlook for international and offshore markets is strong while the near-term is a little cloudier. As current resource plays (the Permian) slow down worldwide demand will continue to grow and require more oil. It is expected that offshore capital commitments will rebound in the next 1-2 years. What's striking about this industry is the lack of investment in the OSV fleet. Since the GFC global shipyard capacity has shrunk by nearly 60%. In addition, newbuild investment is lacking as many banks have pulled back from lending. Over the next decade, as fleets age, the global OSV market is expected to shrink by ~40%. What this adds up to is a potential for large pricing moves, in our favor, coupled with high utilization. But we do not have to bank on that as they are currently generating $300MM+ in FCF vs. a $2.7bb market cap or an 11% yield. In a more normal environment, I'd expect them to generate 500mm-1bb which gets to ~20-35% yields. Importantly their share buybacks were historically limited by debt covenants. That debt has been paid off (they have minimal debt now) and they recently instituted a buyback plan for $500MM. BSD Analysis: Tidewater is benefitting from one of the strongest offshore cycles in a decade, with dayrates climbing and utilization tight across its modern vessel fleet. The industry's multi-year underinvestment supports structurally higher pricing. Tidewater's operational leverage is enormous, and cash generation is accelerating at an impressive clip. Despite the upcycle, the stock still trades below normalized mid-cycle earnings power. With demand for offshore services rising globally, TDW remains a high-torque energy-services compounder.” | BULL | Q3 2025 Oct 8, 2025 | View Pitch |
Moerus Capital Management LLC Amit Wadhwaney | “One of them, Offshore Energy Services provider Tidewater, was a long-tenured, lucrative investment for the Fund that we had sold in the First Half of 2024, as detailed in our June 2024 Semi-Annual Letter. As we explained last year, we continued to like Tidewater's prospects and admire what management had achieved over the preceding several years, but with Tidewater's share price rising from a low of less than $5 in 2020 during the early days of the pandemic to the mid-$90s and over $100 in June 2024, we decided to eliminate the position from the Fund… Since then, due to similar factors that weighed on Valaris… as well as general concerns about tariff implications… Tidewater's stock price fell to the low-$30s at the height of the tariff turmoil in April, and it is currently trading in the low-$50s. With our sale from the Fund in 2024 having been valuation-driven, and with nothing else changing about our investment thesis other than the valuation, we once again acquired shares of Tidewater in the First Half of 2025 at what we believe to be a significantly discounted valuation. BSD Analysis: Tidewater is the unassailable, high-leverage pure-play on the multi-year supercycle in deepwater offshore energy, converting a decade of underinvestment into massive shareholder returns. The core thesis is a structurally constrained vessel supply—with 40% of OSVs aging beyond their economic life by 2035 and virtually no new shipbuilding capacity until 2026—giving Tidewater total pricing power. This dominance has fueled relentless profitability, with revenue growing 33.3% and the average day rate surging 26.6% in 2024 alone. Management is surgically using the resulting $331 million in Free Cash Flow to execute an aggressive $500 million share repurchase program, signaling confidence that the stock is undervalued by over 50% based on intrinsic value estimates. The stock is a conviction bet on non-cyclical offshore production support (50% of revenue) and accelerating demand from subsea construction and offshore wind, which will drive utilization and day rates higher for years to come.” | BULL | Q2 2025 Jun 30, 2025 | View Pitch |
Praetorian Capital Management Harris "Kuppy" Kupperman | “We own a collection of offshore services companies (drillships, jack-ups and OSVs), in the belief that offshore spending will increase in the future as a percentage of overall oilfield spending. This ” | BULL | Q1 2025 Apr 24, 2025 | View Pitch |
Praetorian Capital Management Harris "Kuppy" Kupperman | “In 2020 when oil traded below zero, drilling activity ground to a halt and many energy service providers declared bankruptcy. Many of these businesses had teetered on the verge of bankruptcy for years” | BEAR | Q3 2024 Sep 30, 2024 | View Pitch |
Praetorian Capital Management Harris "Kuppy" Kupperman | “Let's look briefly at Tidewater (TDW – USA), a position that we started buying in January of 2022 at a price of around $12. The shares ended June at approximately $95. What led to such dramatic price ” | BULL | Q2 2024 Jun 30, 2024 | View Pitch |
Each excerpt above is the manager's commentary on this ticker specifically. The full letter has the rest of their portfolio thinking, risk discussion, and broader institutional context.
