Halliburton reports first-quarter loss of $643 million

Halliburton Co. (HAL) on Monday reported a first-quarter loss of $643 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Houston-based company said it had a loss of 76 cents. Earnings, adjusted for asset impairment costs and nonrecurring costs, came to 49 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 19 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 41 cents per share.

The provider of drilling services to oil and gas operators posted revenue of $7.05 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Twelve analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $7.03 billion.

Halliburton shares have increased 19 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased 1 percent. The stock has dropped 25 percent in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on HAL at http://www.zacks.com/ap/HAL

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Keywords: Halliburton, Earnings Report