Shares of Halliburton Co. slumped 1.6% in premarket trading Tuesday, a day after closing at a 2 1/2-year high, after the oil services company reported third-quarter profit that matched expectations while revenue came up a tad shy. The company swung to net income of $236 million, or 26 cents a share, from a loss of $17 million, or 2 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to 28 cents from 11 cents, compared with the FactSet consensus of 28 cents. Total revenue grew 29.7% to $3.860 billion, just below the FactSet consensus of $3.892 billion. Completion and production revenue rose 35.7% to $2.136 billion but missed the FactSet consensus of $2.196 billion while drilling and evaluation revenue increased 23.1% to $1.724 billion but was below expectations of $1.719 billion. Free cash flow of $469 million beat expectations of $298.6 million. “I see a multi-year upcycle unfolding,” said Chief Executive Jeff Miller. “Structural global commodity tightness drives increased demand for our services, both internationally and in North America.” The stock has rallied 34.4% over the past three months through Monday while the S&P 500 has gained 5.4%.
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