Halliburton Posts a Loss But Points to Positive North American Energy Market
January 23 2017 - 7:06AM
Dow Jones News
By Austen Hufford
Halliburton Co. posted a loss and said revenue fell in its
fourth quarter, though the oil-field-services company said the
market in North America was on the upswing.
Chief Executive Dave Lesar said the energy market was in a "tale
of two cycles," North America, which he said was largely positive,
and the rest of the world, where he doesn't expect to see
improvements until the second half of 2017.
"The North America market appears to have rounded the corner,
but the international downward cycle is still playing out," he
said.
In the North America region, the company's largest, revenue
increased from the third quarter, and the company swung to an
operating profit as better pricing and utilization combined with
cost management boosted results. Still, revenue was down 16% from
the fourth quarter in 2015.
During the quarter, Halliburton took a $53 million loss on the
devaluation of the Egyptian pound and a separate $54 million charge
to settle a 14-year-old securities fraud class action lawsuit that
had gone to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In all for the December quarter, Halliburton posted a loss of
$149 million, or 17 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier
loss of $28 million, or 3 cents a share. On an adjusted basis,
which excludes the lawsuit and currency fluctuations, the company
posted a 4 cent profit per share.
Total revenue fell 21% to $4.02 billion. Analysts polled by
Thomson Reuters had projected a loss of 2 cents a share on $4.09
billion in revenue.
Shares in the company, which have risen 17% in the last three
months, fell 0.8% to $56 in premarket trading.
Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 23, 2017 07:51 ET (12:51 GMT)
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