Hartleys downgraded its recommendation on MMA from accumulate to neutral, though committed capex should help sustain MMA's FY15 earnings at a reasonable level before a sharp contraction in earnings is expected for FY16 and FY17.

"Given that we now expect MMA's earnings to deteriorate over the next two years and the speed at which oil prices recover is difficult to predict, we cannot justify anything more than a ‘Neutral' rating on MMA," Hartleys oil and gas analyst Simon Andrew said.

MMA managing director Jeffrey Weber said last month that lower oil prices would trigger cost cutting and consolidation by operators as the new environment impacts "company behaviour", especially around discretionary spending.

Andrew said Hartleys' own analysis of the historical performance of New York-listed OSV company Tidewater during periods of significant oil price volatility points to a significant down cycle for the OSV sector - and by definition MMA.

During two particular periods of oil price volatility - 1997-1999 and 2007-2009 - Tidewater's operating performance held up in the year following a sharp oil price correction.

Yet in the second and third year following an oil price correction there was a sharp deterioration in the operating performance, even after a significant rebound in the price of oil. For both these periods, Tidewater's EBITDA declined by close to 60% from peak to trough (about three years).

As the share price of the OSV operators closely correlates with the movement in the price of oil, share price performances of MMA, Tidewater and the rest of the OSV sector have already started to discount the expected earnings weakness - hence why Hartleys has not gone to an "underweight" recommendation on MMA.

While MMA's share price on the Australian Securities Exchange may have bottomed, Andrew said that even if oil prices strengthen Hartleys expected the stock price to perform, at best, in line with the market.

Analysts are looking to MMA's 1H FY15 results which could provide a catalyst for the stock.

"The 1H performance should be on par with 2H FY14 thanks to the completion of the Subsea 7 contract and the final stage of construction of Gorgon," Andrew said.

"Beyond the 1H results the MRM share price may get a short term boost should Chevron announce plans to construct Train 4 at Gorgon.

"Other catalysts could include contracts associated with both Wheatstone and Ichthys LNG projects."