Despite lower revenues in North America, oilfield services provider Halliburton Company booked higher-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter and raised its first-quarter 2024 dividend as it reiterated a view of strong demand ahead for the industry.
Halliburton, one of the world’s top three such companies and the leader in U.S. fracking reported on Tuesday adjusted net income for the fourth quarter of 2023 – excluding losses in Argentina primarily due to the currency devaluation – of $769 million, or $0.86 per diluted share.
The EPS topped the analyst consensus estimate of $0.80.
Halliburton’s total revenue stood at $5.7 billion for the fourth quarter of 2023, flat when compared to the third quarter of 2023. Operating income rose by 2% sequentially to $1.1 billion.
Fourth-quarter revenues in North America fell by 7% quarter-on-quarter to $2.4 billion, “primarily driven by lower stimulation activity in U.S. land,” said Halliburton, which has North American activity account for the largest share of its revenues.
Partially offsetting the decline in North America’s onshore stimulation activity were improved stimulation activity and higher completion tool sales in the Gulf of Mexico, the company said.
Halliburton raised its 2024 first-quarter dividend by $0.01 per share to $0.17 per share.
Commenting on the full-year performance, chairman, president, and CEO, Jeff Miller, said, “We generated about $2.3 billion of free cash flow during the year, retired approximately $300 million of debt, and returned $1.4 billion of cash to shareholders through stock repurchases and dividends, which represents over 60% of our free cash flow.”
“The outlook for oilfield services demand remains strong,” Miller added, noting that he expects the demand to help Halliburton generate significant free cash flow.
Halliburton is the second major oilfield services company to report Q4 and 2023 earnings. Last week, SLB also raised its quarterly cash dividend after reporting consensus-beating earnings for the fourth quarter, driven by what it described as “substantial international growth” in drilling activity.
Source:Oilprice.com