Weatherford International Q3 Profit Surges, Yet Results Miss View

(RTTNews) - Oilfield services provider Weatherford International Ltd. (WFT) on Wednesday reported a profit for the third quarter that more than tripled from last year on higher revenues and lower expenses. However, results for the quarter missed analysts' expectations.

The Zug, Switzerland-based company's third-quarter net income was $77 million or $0.10 per share, up from $22 million or $0.03 per share in the same period last year.

The latest quarter's results include after-tax charges of $171 million or $0.22 per share, compared to after-tax charges of $155 million or $0.20 per share in the year-ago period.

Excluding special items, adjusted net income for the quarter was $248 million or $0.32 per share, compared to $177 million or $0.23 per share last year. On average, 27 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.33 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Total revenues for the quarter rose 2 percent to $3.88 billion from $3.82 billion in the same period last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate for the quarter of $4.00 billion.

On a geographical basis, Weatherford's revenues from North America grew 14 percent from the year-ago quarter to $1.81 billion, while Middle East, North Africa and Asia region revenues decreased 1 percent to $808 million.

Europe/Sub-Sahara Africa/Russia revenues for the quarter declined 7 percent from the prior-year period to $644 million, while Latin American region revenues decreased 14 percent to $611 million.

During the quarter, Weatherford completed the sale of its Russian and Venezuelan land rig operations as well as the Pipeline and Specialty Services business. The company utilized all the proceeds to reduce debt by $717 million.

Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, Weatherford projects overall margins to improve with a higher level of growth in the core business and approaching 20 percent by year-end.

Weatherford said that during the third quarter, it completed its planned job cuts and the closures of underperforming operating locations.

The company achieved the $500 million annualized pre-tax cost savings goal that it set for itself early this year. These cost savings will continue to support its results throughout 2015, the company added.

WFT closed Wednesday's trading at $16.95 0.73 4.13 percent on a volume of 11.30 million shares. In after-hours, the stock further gained $0.95 or 5.6 percent to $16.00.