Halliburton's Management Still Sees Great Growth Opportunities in American Shale

2017 was a weird year for oil services company Halliburton (NYSE: HAL). Even though drilling activity in North American shale roared back, the company's return to profitability took longer than expected because of some longer-term moves that management made.

However, with 2018 in full swing, the executive team at Halliburton thinks that the very moves that hurt the business last year will lead to a much, much better 2018. Here are a few of management's comments from the company's most recent earnings conference call that highlight how Halliburton expects 2018 to play out.

Bet paid off

Back in late 2016 and early 2017, Halliburton's management made a somewhat audacious move. With oil prices and drilling activity on the rise, it elected to bring a lot of its idle equipment back into service. In doing so, it incurred higher-than-usual costs, which management noted would significantly dent margins. But these actions were predicated on the idea that drilling activity would continue to grow and that the company could capture market share early, then gain back margin from a larger base later on.

It appears that move was well played as the company posted great results this past quarter compared to its peers. So, as you might expect, CEO Jeff Miller took a bit of a victory lap in his opening remarks about how this bet paid out nicely:

Cost pressure increasing quickly

Drilling activity is still strong in North America thanks to oil prices above $60 and producers finding more ways to lower their per-barrel breakeven cost. This has been a boon for oil services companies as they deploy more equipment and put crews to work. For all this good news, though, such rapid growth is not without its downsides, like higher costs. According to Miller, though, that's a trade-off the company is still willing to make in today's market:

One of the largest sources of cost inflation has been fracking sand. Producers and service companies alike have found that much higher amounts of sand in their fracking fluids improve well performance. As a result, sand use today is higher than in 2014, when there were more than double the number of rigs in the field. High sand costs have been a priority for management, and Miller believes Halliburton has some ways to mitigate those costs:

Still room to run

All of the things mentioned above sound good, but when there is talk of things like capacity constraints, it suggests a company could be at its peak. According to Miller, though, that isn't the case. While the company may not be as generous with adding new capacity to the market, there is still some room to increase revenue with excess capacity.

Increased activity might not mean better returns outside the U.S.

Over the past few months, we have finally started to see drilling activity across the world start to pick up. Certain pockets of the market have been better than others (the Middle East and the North Sea, for example). While that sounds like great news for Halliburton and others, Miller noted that investors should temper their expectations for now:

The things that Miller is saying here make the international market sound a lot like the North American market 18 months ago. While there is interest in adding capacity, there isn't enough to sustain all players in the market. This leaves Halliburton with a choice. It can elect to pursue the same path it did in shale and shun margins for market share, or it can take a more measured approach and focus on generating some form of pricing power.

The difference between North America and the rest of the world is that Halliburton doesn't have as many embedded advantages internationally as it has stateside. As large as Halliburton is, Schlumberger dwarfs it in the international market and has many more inherent advantages there. That's not to say that Halliburton can't pull it off, but it will be harder to do so.

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Tyler Crowe has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.