Major oilfield services provider Halliburton Company (HAL – Free Report) reported better-than-expected third quarter profit thanks to improved utilization and pricing gains in North America – the company’s largest market by sales.
Halliburton’s income from continuing operation came in at 42 cents per share, above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 38 cents – the thirteenth consecutive quarterly outperformance. Moreover, revenues of $5,444 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5,318.9 million.
Oil services companies (like Halliburton) – providers of technical products and services to drillers of oil and gas wells – are generally the first of the U.S. energy firms to kick off an earnings season. While two of the world’s biggest oilfield services providers – Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB – Free Report) and Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE – Free Report) – came out with September numbers on Friday, Oct 20, Weatherford International plc (WFT – Free Report) , another biggie, will report third quarter earnings next week.
Halliburton Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Halliburton Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Halliburton Company Quote
North American Market Booming
Along with the results, Halliburton also sounded optimistic in its view that the North American land market is improving rapidly, driven by increased utilization and pricing – particularly for pressure pumping. As it is, rig counts have generally been rising during the last one and half years since plunging to an all-time low of 404 in May 2016, with the addition of a flood of new units. As proof of the recovery, Halliburton grew its domestic land revenue by 14% sequentially, well ahead of the U.S. land rig count growth of 6%.
Additionally, Halliburton’s international market proved resilient in the face of challenging circumstances. The company’s impressive expense management for the last several quarters helped regional sales rise more than 4% from the second quarter.
