Halliburton's Stock Surges After Profit, Revenue Beat Expectations

Halliburton Co.'s stock climbed 2.5% in premarket trade Monday, after the oil services company reported profit and sales that fell much less than expected. Net earnings fell to $54 million, or 6 cents a share, from $774 million, or 91 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as charges relted to severance costs and asset write offs as a result of the downturn in the energy market, adjusted earnings per share slipped to 44 cents from 49 cents, but beat the FactSet consensus of 29 cents. Revenue dropped to $5.92 billion from $8.05 billion, but was above the FactSet consensus of $5.8 billion. Separately, Chief Executive Dave Lesar said the company has received the initial rounds of bids on previously-announced divestitures, related to the acquisition of Baker Hughes, "and are pleased with the prices and level of interest." Lesar said he remains "fully committed" to closing the deal, and expects to achieve cost synergies of nearly $2 billion. The stock has tumbled 16% year to date through Friday, while the S&P 500 has gained 1.3%.