Booming oil means record 2Q sales for Halliburton

Income from continuing operations met Wall Street forecasts, and the company said it continued to expand its business globally.

Halliburton Co., which has corporate offices in Houston and Dubai, said earnings for the April-June period were $507 million, or 55 cents a share. That compares with year-ago profit of $1.53 billion, or $1.62 a share, which included a $933 million gain from the KBR Inc. separation.

Income from continuing operations totaled $623 million, or 68 cents a share, in the latest quarter--in line with expectations of Wall Street analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Those forecasts typically exclude one-time items.

Revenue rose to a record $4.48 billion from $3.73 billion a year ago, beating Wall Street's $4.25 billion average estimate.

"I'm very pleased with our results for the second quarter as we continue to show healthy expansion of our business on a worldwide basis," said Halliburton chairman and chief executive Dave Lesar, who moved his office to Dubai last year to be closer to important markets in the Middle East and Asia.

In a note to clients Tuesday, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities called the results "solid in an absolute sense," but it noted others in the sector had fared better than Halliburton versus Wall Street forecasts. Smaller competitors Baker Hughes Inc. and BJ Services Co., which also reported earnings Tuesday, both topped expectations by wide margins.

Halliburton shares fell $2.61, or more than 5 percent, to $46.30 Tuesday. They've traded in a range of $30 to $55.38 in the past year.

Halliburton said revenue outside North America grew 26 percent year-over-year, exceeding its 20 percent growth target. In particular, Eastern Hemisphere revenue rose 23 percent, led by increased business in Norway, Saudi Arabia, Angola and Oman.

North American sales rose 7 percent from a year ago, despite a seasonal slowdown in Canada. In the United States, inflated costs for fuel and materials were a drag on results, the company said. Pricing pressures for some services hurt too.