Earnings Preview: Halliburton - Analyst Blog
20 Janeiro 2012 - 11:15AM
Zacks
Major oilfield services provider
Halliburton Company (HAL ) is scheduled to report its fourth
quarter 2011 results on Monday January 23, 2012 before the start of
trading.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for
the to-be-reported quarter is a profit of 99 cents per share (with
an upside potential of 1.01%) on revenues of $6.8 billion. In the
year-ago quarter, Halliburton recorded a gain of 68 cents per
share, while sales came in at $5.2 billion.
Third Quarter
Recap
Halliburton’s third-quarter 2011
results came in better than expected, helped by the strength and
sustainability of the all-important North American onshore activity
levels (to which the company is heavily leveraged through its
market-share-leading pressure-pumping business).
Earnings per share, excluding
special items, came in at 94 cents, beating the Zacks Consensus
Estimate of 92 cents and comfortably ahead of the year-ago adjusted
profit of 58 cents.
Revenues of $6.5 billion were 40.4%
greater than that achieved during the third quarter of 2010 and
also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.4 billion, as
sales increased across the company’s business units.
(Read our full coverage on this
earnings report: Halliburton 3Q up on North America).
Points to Ponder for
Fourth Quarter
Halliburton enjoys a strong
competitive position within the global oilfield services markets.
We like the company’s broad and technologically-complex product and
service offerings, along with its robust financial profile.
It remains the best-positioned
company in the U.S. pressure pumping market, with significant
acreage positions in the highest profile plays, such as the
Haynesville, Eagle Ford shale and Bakken. In the to-be-reported
quarter, Halliburton is likely to benefit from bullish U.S. land
drilling trends, where activity is trending above expectations.
This is likely to be somewhat
offset by pricing competition in international markets that may put
pressure on the company’s margins. However, we believe the market
has already priced this into the stock’s valuation.
Agreement of
Analysts
As a result of the above-mentioned
factors, there has been an upward bias among the analysts regarding
Halliburton’s outlook. In particular, we see a notable number of
estimate revisions over the past 30 days.
Out of the 26 analysts covering the
stock, 5 have revised their estimates upward for the fourth quarter
of 2011, while 2 have gone in the opposite direction.
Magnitude of Estimate
Revisions
Despite the analysts revising
estimates northward over the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus
Estimate for the quarter has remained static at 99 cents.
Surprise
History
The company has a history of
positive earnings surprises, surpassing the Zacks Consensus
Estimate in each of the last 4 quarters. Halliburton has performed
consistently during this period with its average earnings surprise
being 6.95%. This implies that the company has beaten the Zacks
Consensus Estimate by 6.95% over the last four quarters.
As such, we will not be surprised
if Halliburton reports better-than-expected results yet again,
particularly after Schlumberger Limited
(SLB) – the largest member of the
oilfield services contingent – led off reporting for the group by
coming out with robust numbers, as the growth in global energy
demand and the recent strength in oil prices have helped producers
to boost exploration and production spending around the world.
Our
Recommendation
Halliburton shares currently retain
a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a short-term 'Hold' rating.
We are also maintaining our long-term Neutral recommendation on the
stock.
We like Halliburton’s leading
position in the global oilfield services market, its broad and
technologically-complex product/service offerings, and its robust
financial profile. The company has been benefiting from increased
activity in the unconventional shale plays in North America, which
has more than made up for the drop in deepwater Gulf of Mexico
activity and disruptions in North Africa.
However, recent disclosures in the
Deepwater Horizon incident has created some overhang on the stock
because of Halliburton’s alleged direct involvement and the ensuing
uncertainty regarding its potential liability exposure. We are also
concerned by the slow and geographically uneven recovery in
Halliburton’s international markets.
As such, we see the stock
performing in line with the broader market and prefer to remain on
the sidelines.
HALLIBURTON CO (HAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
SCHLUMBERGER LT (SLB): Free Stock Analysis Report
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