(Oil Price) – Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) missed analyst estimates for its third-quarter earnings as weaker North American revenues combined with the impact of an August cyberattack and hurricanes in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico dragged profits down.
Halliburton, one of the world’s top three oilfield services providers and leader in the U.S. fracking services market, reported on Thursday adjusted net income per share of $0.73, below the analyst consensus estimate of $0.75.
“We experienced a $0.02 per share impact to our adjusted earnings from lost or delayed revenue due to the August cybersecurity event and storms in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Halliburton’s chairman, president and CEO, Jeff Miller.
At the end of August, Halliburton was the target of a cyberattack, which reportedly affected operations at the oilfield service major’s north Houston campus as well as some of its global connectivity networks.
For the third quarter of 2024, Halliburton booked impairment and other charges of $35 million related to the cybersecurity incident.
Yet, Miller said that “Our full year expectations for free cash flow and cash return to shareholders remain unchanged, and we expect both to accelerate in the fourth quarter.”
Halliburton’s North America revenue fell to $2.4 billion for the third quarter, down by 4% sequentially and down from $2.6 billion compared to the third quarter of 2023. The company attributed the decline to “decreased pressure pumping services in U.S. land, in addition to lower activity across multiple product service lines in the Gulf of Mexico partly due to the impacts from Hurricane Francine and Hurricane Helene.”
Halliburton’s competitors SLB and Baker Hughes have reported better-than-expected earnings for Q3.
SLB expects to exceed its commitment of returns to shareholders this year as its third-quarter profit beat estimates and cash flow generation remained strong despite softened short-cycle activity.
Baker Hughes reported higher-than-expected profits for the third quarter on the back of its strong international operations.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
