Halliburton Earnings Beat Estimates, Pushing Shares Higher

Halliburton (HAL) shares climbed 2.8% in recent premarket trading after the oilfield services company said Monday its second-quarter net income climbed 83% to $480 million, or 53 cents a share, from $262 million, or 29 cents a share a year ago.

Earnings from continuing operations for the second quarter of 2010 were $474 million, or 52 cents per share. Revenue rose 15.8% to $4.4 billion from $3.8 billion. Analysts estimated earnings of 37 cents per share on $4.1 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"I am very pleased with our second-quarter results," said Dave Lesar, chairman, president and CEO. "The tragic incident that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico and the subsequent suspension of deepwater drilling, we believe, will usher in a new regulatory climate and will have a profound impact on how deepwater drilling is performed."

Halliburton expects the deepwater drilling suspension to negatively impact 2010 earnings by 5 cents to 8 cents per quarter for the remainder of the year.

Despite its involvement in the Deepwater Horizon rig that blew up and caused a massive three-month oil spill in the gulf, Lesar says, "The events in the Gulf of Mexico have not stifled our enthusiasm for increased deepwater activity in the coming years. Deepwater will continue to serve as an important source of hydrocarbons necessary to meet future energy demand."