Shares of Baker Hughes Co. sank 1.8% in premarket trading Wednesday, after the oilfield products and services company reported third-quarter profit and revenue that missed expectations, as results were hurt by Hurricane Ida, cost inflation in chemicals and supply-chain constraints. The company swung to net income of $8 million, or a penny a share, from a loss of $170 million, or 25 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to 16 cents from 10 cents, but missed the FactSet consensus of 21 cents. Revenue edged up 0.9% to $5.09 billion but was below the FactSet consensus of $5.33 billion, while total costs and expenses declined 7.5% to $4.72 billion. “As we look ahead to the rest of 2021 and into 2022, we see continued signs of global economic recovery that should drive further demand growth for oil and natural gas,” said Chief Executive Lorenzo Simonelli. “However, the pace of growth is being hampered by the COVID-19 Delta variant, global chip shortages, supply chain issues, and energy supply constraints.” The stock, which closed at a 2 1/2-year high as recently as Monday, has run up 34.1% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF has rallied 21.9% and the S&P 500 has gained 4.6%.
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