Halliburton Beats Q4 Profit Forecast As North America Recovers

Oilfield services provider Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) reported on Monday fourth-quarter adjusted income of $0.04 per diluted share - beating analyst estimates - after turning in an operating income in North America.

Halliburton’s adjusted income from continuing operations of $0.04 per diluted share compares to average estimates of $0.02 per-share profit by 39 analysts compiled by Bloomberg.

The net loss attributable to the company was $149 million, or $0.17 per share, compared to a net loss of $28 million, or $0.03 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2015.

Total revenue for the fourth quarter dropped to $4.021 billion from $5.082 billion, slightly missing a Reuters estimate of $4.09 billion.

Halliburton’s revenue in North America increased by 9 percent sequentially to $1.8 billion, as the average U.S. rig count rose by 23 percent in the fourth quarter, the company said in its earnings release. In addition, increased pricing and utilization on U.S. onshore, plus effective cost management, helped Halliburton book an operating income of $28 million in the fourth quarter, compared with an operating loss of $66 million in the third quarter.

For the third quarter, Halliburton had reported a small net profit, trumping estimates for a net loss, and saying that North American operations were showing signs of improvement.

Now for the fourth quarter, the company’s North American business returned to an operating profit, but Halliburton warned that the rest of the industry outside North America was still suffering.

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“Despite the positive sentiment surrounding the North American land market, it is important to remember that our world is still a tale of two cycles. The North America market appears to have rounded the corner, but the international downward cycle is still playing out,” chairman and CEO Dave Lesar said.

“In the international markets, low commodity prices have stressed budgets and have impacted economics across deepwater and mature field markets, which led to decreased activity and pricing throughout 2016,” the executive noted.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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