By Tess Stynes
Halliburton Co.'s second-quarter earnings plunged 93% amid weak
demand for its oil-and-gas drilling and fracking expertise,
particularly in North America, the company said Monday.
Still, shares rose 2.3% to $40.91 in midmorning trade, as
per-share earnings and revenue beat expectations.
The energy sector has been facing headwinds from lower crude-oil
prices around the world, but particularly in the U.S., where shale
producers have dialed back their operations. Like other oil-field
services companies, Halliburton has cut costs-- and jobs--as
clients reduced spending on exploration and production activities
and pressured their service providers for deep discounts in the
face of weak fuel prices.
In the latest quarter, Halliburton reported that revenue in its
North America business declined 39% to $2.67 billion.
Though oil prices have struggled in recent weeks, hampering what
was beginning to look like a recovery in U.S. drilling activity,
Halliburton still expects oil-field activity could begin to recover
in the coming months.
The rig count shouldn't drop further, but the recovery in oil
drilling will be slow going, Dave Lesar, chief executive of
Halliburton, told analysts and investors on a call Monday.
"To sum things up, this is a damn tough market, one of the
toughest ones that I've ever been through. And I don't believe
anyone on the call can accurately predict when commodity prices
will rebound and rig counts will recover in the U.S. or the
international markets, and neither can I, " he said. "What I do
believe is that when the recovery occurs, North America will offer
the greatest upside and that Halliburton will be the best position
to lead the way."
Rival oil-field service firm Schlumberger said last week that it
expects the North American rig count to begin to rebound in the
second half of the year. That company also reported a steep
earnings drop for the second quarter. Schlumberger profits fell 30%
amid plunging revenue, with a significant decline seen in North
America.
Halliburton, the second largest oil-field-services company
behind Schlumberger and a bellwether for the industry, is in the
process of acquiring smaller rival Baker Hughes Inc. The deal still
requires approval by antitrust regulators. Baker Hughes is set to
report second-quarter results on Tuesday.
"We are pleased with the progress of the proposed Baker Hughes
acquisition, as evidenced by our recently announced timing
agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice," Mr. Lesar said,
adding that Halliburton has received an initial round of bids on
previously announced asset sales and is pleased with the level of
interest and prices offered.
Overall, Halliburton reported a profit of $54 million, or 6
cents a share, down from $774 million, or 91 cents a share, a year
earlier. Excluding restructuring-related charges, costs related to
its Baker Hughes and other items, earnings from continuing
operations fell to 44 cents from 49 cents. Revenue tumbled 26% to
$5.92 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of
29 cents and revenue of $5.78 billion.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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