Halliburton swings to profit in fiscal Q1 despite COVID-19 disruptions

Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) said on Wednesday that it swung to profit in the fiscal first quarter. Its financial performance, the company added, was better than expected in Q1, despite the ongoing pandemic.

Halliburton shares tanked more than 6% in premarket trading on Wednesday but recovered more than 2% on market open. Including the price action, the stock is now exchanging hands at £13.55 per share versus a year-to-date high of £17.48 per share in early March.

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The Houston-based company had started the year 2021 at £13.51 per share. The price action should come in handy if you are interested in investing in the stock market online.

Halliburton’s Q1 financial results versus analysts’ estimates

Halliburton said that its net income in the first quarter came in at £121.97 million that translates to 13.63 pence per share. In the same quarter last year, it had posted £730 million of loss, or 83 pence per share.

The oil services company generated £2.48 billion of revenue in Q1 that represents a 31.5% annualised decline. According to FactSet, experts had forecast the company to record £2.41 billion of revenue in the recent quarter. Their estimate for per-share earnings stood at a lower 12.20 pence.

At £1.34 billion, completion and production revenue, Halliburton said, printed 37% lower than last year. Drilling and evaluation revenue, on the other hand, tanked 24% in the first quarter to £1.13 billion.

FactSet Consensus for revenue from these two segments stood at £1.36 billion and £1.05 billion, respectively. In the prior quarter (Q4), Halliburton’s net loss had contracted to £172.42 million, as per the report published earlier this year in January.

Chief Executive Jeff Miller’s comments on Wednesday

CEO Jeff Miller commented on the earnings report on Wednesday and said:

“The first quarter marked an activity inflection for the international markets, while North America continued to stage a healthy recovery. I expect international activity growth to accelerate, and the early positive momentum in North America gives me confidence in the activity cadence for the rest of the year.”

In separate news, semiconductor company ASML Holding raised its full-year guidance on Wednesday as quarterly profit soared.  

Halliburton performed largely downbeat in the stock market last year with an annual decline of close to 20%. At the time of writing, the oil and gas wells drilling company has a market capitalisation of £12.04 billion.