Halliburton's stock rises despite earnings miss as CEO cites strong outlook for oilfield services

By James Rogers

Halliburton increased its first-quarter dividend by 1 cent a share to 17 cents a share.

Halliburton Co. shares rose 2.1% in pre-market trading despite a miss for the oil-services company's top and bottom-line fourth-quarter results early Tuesday.

Net income was $661 million, or 74 cents a share, from $656 million, or 72 cents a share, in the same period last year. On an adjusted basis, excluding losses in Argentina primarily due to the currency devaluation, Halliburton (HAL) earned 86 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for earnings of 93 cents a share.

Halliburton's fourth-quarter revenue was $5.74 billion, up from $5.58 billion in the same period last year, but below the FactSet consensus of $6.41 billion. North America revenue was $2.4 billion, down from $2.6 billion in the same period last year. International revenue was $3.3 billion, up from $2.97 billion in the prior year's quarter.

Related: Oil prices end at highest level in a month on supply risks, 'positive risk sentiment'

The company also increased its first-quarter dividend by 1 cent a share to 17 cents a share.

"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," Chief Executive Jeff Miller said in a statement.

Miller added that he is excited for 2024. "The outlook for oilfield services demand remains strong," he said in the statement. "I expect we will deepen and strengthen our value proposition, and generate significant free cash flow."

Related: The stock market needs better earnings to keep climbing. It's not going to get them, warns JPMorgan

Halliburton shares have fallen 13.6% in the last 52 weeks, compared with the S&P 500 index's SPX gain of 20.7%.

-James Rogers

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01-23-24 0819ET

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