Halliburton Company (HAL)

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Halliburton says Q1 earnings to miss estimates as short-term costs rise
Halliburton (HAL +0.6%) Chairman and CEO Dave Lesar says Q1 earnings likely will miss expectations, as the company is spending more money in the short term to protect market share and ensure stronger profits in the future.
“We are coming off of a historic trough, so what we have to add back is almost unprecedented,” Lesar said in an operations update call, also noting that HAL added back 2K U.S. jobs in Q1 after cutting 35K positions over two years.
Lesar also says HAL is taking a $50M financial hit just on inflated frac sand prices since the company does not have enough sand supplies under contract.
Piper Jaffray analyst Bill Herbert says oilfield activity actually is picking up faster than HAL anticipated, causing the company to lose some market share temporarily and to spend more to maintain as much of the share as possible.