Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) took a pounding early Monday afternoon, after the company reported stronger-than-expected profit for its third quarter.
The Houston-based petroleum giant announced today income from continuing operations of $365 million, or $0.42 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2017. This compares to income from continuing operations for the second quarter of 2017 of $28 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, and adjusted income from continuing operations for the second quarter of 2017 of $201 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, excluding a fair market value adjustment related to Venezuela.
CEO Jeff Miller remarked, “we had a strong quarter and I am very pleased with our results. Our North American business is hitting on all cylinders and our international business proved resilient in a challenging environment. These results demonstrate why Halliburton is the execution company.”
Total company revenue was $5.4 billion, representing a 10% increase compared to the second quarter of this year. Total operating income was over $630 million, primarily driven by continued strengthening of market conditions in North America and improved profitability in Halliburton’s Drilling and Evaluation product lines.
Moreover, Halliburton recently released GeoTech HE™, a robust drill bit that incorporates new features and materials to deliver enhanced performance and increased reliability in today's high energy drilling systems characterized by very high weight-on-bit and drilling torque.
Recent years have seen advances in drilling equipment and practices that have enabled operators to significantly increase energy and drilling speed to reduce costs.
Halliburton shares, however, lost 63 cents, or 1.5%, to $42.70.
