Halliburton Company (HAL)

[Timothy Smith]

$HAL +2.9% premarket after posting a solid Q2 earnings beat as revenues rose nearly 30% Y/Y and 24% Q/Q, outpacing the average sequential U.S. land rig count growth of 21%.

HAL says Q2 results primarily were driven by continued strengthening of market conditions in North America; revenue in Completion and Production rose 20% Q/Q to $3.1B and operating margins improved by 700 bps to ~13%, driven by strength in its production enhancement, cementing and completion tools product service lines.

Q2 North America revenue rose 24% Q/Q to $2.8B, driven primarily by increased utilization and pricing throughout the U.S. land sector, particularly in pressure pumping and well construction product service lines; international revenue rose 7% to $2.2B, but HAL says the global market continues to move sideways with continued pricing pressure.

HAL's $28M net profit for Q2 was in stark contrast to its $32M in Q4 2016 and whopping $3.2B loss during the year-ago Q2.