Halliburton Company Earnings: Profits Grow by Double Digits For Fifth Straight Quarter

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) reported higher profit for the first quarter as revenue showed growth. Halliburton provides oilfield technologies and services to upstream oil and gas customers worldwide.

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Halliburton Company Earnings Cheat Sheet for the First Quarter

Results: Net income for the oil-field services rose to $630 million (68 cents per share) vs. $511 million (56 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 23.3% from the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 30% to $6.87 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Halliburton Company reported adjusted net income of 89 cents per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean estimate of 86 cents per share. Analysts were expecting revenue of $6.78 billion.

Quoting Management: “I am very pleased with our first quarter results, with revenue growth of 30% compared to the first quarter of 2011,” commented Dave Lesar, chairman, president and chief executive officer. “Despite the 17% decline in the United States natural gas rig count and a modest decline in overall United States rig count, our North America revenue increased from the prior quarter to a new record with only a modest decline in operating margins.”

Key Stats:

For the past five quarters, the company has seen double-digit year-over-year percentage revenue growth. Over that span, the company has averaged growth of 36.6%, with the biggest boost coming in the first quarter of the last fiscal year when revenue rose 40.4% from the year earlier quarter.

The company has now seen net income rise in three straight quarters. In the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, net income rose 49.8% and in the third quarter of the last fiscal year, the figure rose 25.6%.

The company has now surpassed analyst estimates for four quarters in a row. It beat the mark by one cent in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, by 2 cents in the third quarter of the last fiscal year, and by 9 cents in the second quarter of the last fiscal year.

Looking Forward: Analysts appear increasingly negative about the company’s results for the next quarter. The average estimate for the second quarter has moved down from $1.01 a share to 89 cents over the last ninety days. For the fiscal year, the average estimate has moved down from $4.14 a share to $3.76 over the last ninety days.

(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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