BTIG has initiated coverage of Kirby with a neutral rating.
The brokerage said the off-shore company's inland barge and marine transportation sectors have turned the corner, but expects distribution and service to continue lagging.
"While we see the potential for a pickup in [distribution and service] in the back half of 2019, we expect the near term to be choppy against a backdrop of more disciplined spending by North American E&P companies" which are core customers for Kirby," analyst Gregory Lewis wrote in a note to clients.
He said revenues from its marine business should push up to three-quarters of total earnings before taxes and interest.
Kirby "is still primarily a barge company, but that has been forgotten due to the barge down-cycle" and the 2017 acquisition of Stewart and Stevenson, Lewis said.
There is, though, a high level of uncertainty in BTIG's forecast, with Lewis noting that US oil drilling activity is sensitive to prices.
"Bottom line: [Kirby] remains at its core an inland barge business (which is much more stable than it's D&S business) with a call option (D&S) on North American shale activity," he wrote.
