Halliburton Reports Strong Q2 Results

Halliburton had another strong quarter as the firm witnessed record-breaking revenues again as they rose to $7.3B and we saw operating income of $1.0B.  From these revenues we saw income from continuing operations for the second quarter of $677 million or $.73 per diluted share, which is $13 million less then what we had been looking for and 1 cent less per diluted share.  Halliburton’s results did beat analysts’ expectations of $.72 per diluted share.

Multiple segments of the business witnessed continuing strong growth especially within Bariod, Cementing, Completion, Multi-Chem and testing.  The Eastern Hemisphere sustained its pattern of mid-teens growth YoY with revenues improving 11% and operating income improving 23%.  The Middle East/Asia was the fastest growing region with revenue increasing 12% and operating income improving 17%.  We saw stagnant numbers come from Latin America where revenues were flat and operating income was down 7%.  The beginning of the year is typically a slow period for Latin America and I expect that we will see most of the LATAM growth this year in the final quarter due to increases in technology sales to the region. The U.S. saw improvement, but land rig counts stayed flat for the quarter and Canadian activity was relatively flat.  Operating margins improved 120bps to 17.5%.

Going forward I believe that we will continue to see strong growth from Halliburton as their operating margins abroad and in North America improve.  They have continued to be the leader in hydraulic fracturing and have seen the fastest YoY growth numbers international within the industry.  I would restate that Halliburton is a BUY and still has the potential to move to $57.50.  We can anticipate that Halliburton will continue its share buyback program as they announced on July 18^th a target of $5B in repurchases.