Why GulfMark Offshore Inc.'s Outlook Sent Shares Plunging 10% Today

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of GulfMark Offshore dropped by more than 10% when the company presented a less than rosy outlook for 2015 despite presenting better than expected results for the previous quarter during its earnings release.

So What: GulfMark's entire business revolves around servicing offshore oil platforms with support vessels used for various services such as ice breaking and transport of equipment for drilling. The double whammy of declining oil prices and an oversupply of rigs and support vessels means that the company is sitting on a couple vessels that are without work.

In its recent conference call the company's management admitted that it has been a bit slow to react to the market and will be looking to shore up its operations through some sales of older vessels as well as suspend its share buyback program to ensure that the company will be able to pay its dividend.

Now What: This recent dip in share price looks like a slight overreaction to Tuesday's news. Although management admitted a small flub in reacting to the market, the company has a relatively strong balance sheet and it looks as though the company has a couple of levers to pull to help shore up financial performance. The short term outlook for the company may be a little unclear because of the oversupply in the market and uncertainty about future oil prices, but long term offshore drilling will remain a major component of the oil and gas industry and support vessels like GulfMark's will have plenty of future customers.

The article Why GulfMark Offshore Inc.'s Outlook Sent Shares Plunging 10% Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

Tyler Crowe has no position in any stocks mentioned.You can follow him at Fool.com under the handle TMFDirtyBird, onGoogle +,or on Twitter:@TylerCroweFool. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.