- Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) +2.9% premarket after comfortably beating Q4 earnings expectations and posting a 48% revenue improvement from the prior-year quarter.
- HAL, which makes ~55% of its revenue from North American operations, says Q4 revenue rose to $5.9B, 9% better than Q3, with North American revenue totaling $3.4B, up 7% Q/Q.
- Q4 completion and production revenue rose 8% Q/Q to $3.8B, with segment operating income gaining 5% to $552M, while drilling and evaluation revenue jumped 12% Q/Q to $2.1B, and operating income for the business surged 62% to $291M.
- HAL took a $385M Q4 charge on its Venezuela operations following Schlumberger's (NYSE:SLB) $900M charge announced last week; HAL also recorded $882M in charges related to the recent tax law changes.
- "We are on the path to normalized margins in North America in 2018,” says President and CEO Jeff Miller. "Commodity prices are supportive of increasing activity in North America and I am encouraged by the increase in tender activity and the positive discussions we are having with our international customers."