• Noble Corporation plc recently announced it has secured new contract awards for nine rigs adding about US$1.30 billion in backlog, including a three-year, roughly US$473 million harsh-environment semisubmersible contract for Noble GreatWhite offshore Norway and multi-year work across Nigeria, Guyana, South America, Trinidad, and the U.S. Gulf.
• The move not only broadens Noble’s geographic footprint into Norway’s harsh-environment floater market but also entails substantial capital commitments, with around US$160 million earmarked to reactivate Noble GreatWhite and about US$50 million for 2026 contract preparation across the wider fleet.
• We’ll now examine how this expanded harsh-environment presence in Norway and associated long-term contracts shape Noble’s evolving investment narrative.

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What Is Noble's Investment Narrative?

To own Noble today, you really have to believe in the durability of its offshore drilling franchise and the value of a long-dated backlog, even after a choppy earnings year and modest returns versus the wider market. The latest US$1.30 billion of new contracts, including the three-year Noble GreatWhite award offshore Norway, meaningfully refreshes that backlog picture and leans further into harsh-environment work, which could be an important short term sentiment driver given the recent share price strength and improving Relative Strength Rating. At the same time, the sizeable reactivation and contract-preparation spend, on top of already thin profit margins and a dividend not fully covered by earnings, raises the bar for execution. In other words, the contracts help the story, but they also sharpen the operational and capital allocation risks.

However, investors also need to weigh how these new commitments interact with Noble’s already tight earnings cover and capital demands. Noble's shares have been on the rise but are still potentially undervalued. Find out how large the opportunity might be.

Exploring Other Perspectives

Ten fair value views from the Simply Wall St Community span roughly US$25 to just over US$76, underlining how differently people see Noble’s potential, especially with new long-term contracts locking in work but also front loading capex and execution risk.

Explore 10 other fair value estimates on Noble - why the stock might be worth over 2x more than the current price!

Build Your Own Noble Narrative

Disagree with this assessment? Create your own narrative in under 3 minutes - extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd.

• A great starting point for your Noble research is our analysis highlighting 2 key rewards and 2 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision.
• Our free Noble research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate Noble's overall financial health at a glance.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.