Halliburton Q4 Profit Climbs As Revenue Rises 5%

(RTTNews) - Oilfield services provider Halliburton Co. (HAL.F, HAL.TO, HAL) Tuesday said profit for the fourth quarter increased more than 18 percent from the prior year, as revenues increased 5 percent amid growth in its international operations even as Latin America continued to be challenging.

Net income attributable to the company increased to $793 or $0.93 per share from $669 million or $0.72 per share in the prior year.

Income from continuing operations attributable to the company's shareholders improved to $770 million or $0.90 per share from $589 million or $0.63 per share in the previous year.

Excluding restructuring charges of $0.03 per share, income from continuing operations was $798 million or $0.93 per share. On average, 33 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.89 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Total revenue increased to $7.639 billion from $7.290 billion in the prior year, touching a record and grew 2 percent sequentially, amid record revenue in the Middle East/Asia and Europe/Africa/CIS regions. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $7.55 billion for the quarter.

Completion and Production revenues were 5 percent higher at $4.542 billion. Sequentially, revenue edged up 1 percent amid stronger activity and year-end completion tool and equipment sales in international operations, which more than offset seasonally lower activity in North America.

Drilling and Evaluation revenues also increased on similar lines to $3.097 billion and were up 4 percent from the preceding quarter, driven by year-end software sales in all regions and higher activity in the Eastern Hemisphere, which more than offset the North America activity decline.

Revenues improved slightly in North America to $3.823 billion, amid activity disruptions related to weather and holidays.

Halliburton said Latin America continues to be a challenging market where fourth-quarter revenue was slightly lower from last year while it improved fractionally from the preceding quarter.

Higher year-end software sales, increased cementing activity, and the recognition of a value added tax refund receivable in Brazil offset a decline in integrated project activity in Mexico.

Revenues improved in Europe/Africa/CIS as well as Middle East/Asia.

For the year, net income attributable to the company fell to $2.125 billion from $2.635 billion and annual revenues improved to $29.402 billion from $28.503 billion.

During the year, the company bought back $4.4 billion or 10 percent of its outstanding shares of common stock.

Dave Lesar, CEO, said, "Our strategy is working well and we intend to stay the course in the coming year. We are optimistic about our ability to grow our North America revenue and margins, and to realize continued revenue and margin growth in our international business, which we believe will result in double-digit growth in our earnings per share in 2014.''

In 2014, the company expects low double-digit year-over-year growth in Eastern Hemisphere revenue, with quarterly margins consistently higher each quarter on a year-over-year basis. Quarterly margins are expected to approach 20 percent by year-end and average in the upper teens.

Earlier in the day, Halliburton's peer Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) reported close to 16 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit, as revenues improved with growth in several key segments. Looking ahead, the company expects increased activity in all its operational segments in 2014.

HAL closed down 0.5 percent on Friday at $50.66. The stock is up 1.6 percent in pre-market activity.