Shares of Baker Hughes (BHI) were higher Thursday, as it delivered a top- and bottom-line beat in its first quarter.
The oilfield services company said it earned $328 million, or 74 cents a share, up from 60 cents a share in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, earnings were 84 cents a share, up from 65 cents, six cents ahead of the 78 cents analysts were expected.
Revenue rose 9.6% to $5.73 billion, squeaking past the consensus $5.71 billion.
Revenue in the North American region, the biggest top-line contributor, climbed 6.6% in the quarter, while overseas sales saw double-digit jumps: The Middle East and Asia-Pacific region saw a 24% increase in revenues, followed by a 17% gain in Europe, Russia, and Africa. Latin America was one blemish on the report, as sales slid 10%.
On the conference call, management said that it expects strong commodity prices to support spending by its customers. The company noted that rig counts in Saudi Arabia have reached a new high, and that they also see well counts rising in the U.S. However, it also adjusted its international rig count growth estimate to 9% for the full year, down from a previous 10%.
Not many analyst notes have trickled in yet, but FBR Capital Markets' Thomas Curran and Juan Avendano reiterated an Outperform rating on the stock, writing that the quarter demonstrates why the stock has been their top pick in the group.
More from the note:
FLEXPump and FracPoint making headway internationally, too. Centrilift, BHI’s artificial lift business, won (1) its largest contract ever in the Middle East, with a workscope covering the supply, maintenance, and surveillance of 400 ESP systems over a 5-year term; and (2) “a significant” FLEXPump order in Russia. BHI also deployed the FracPoint multistage fracturing system in North Africa for the first time. Finally, BHI inked a multi-year contract in the Middle East for the provision of drill bits, completions systems, and wireline services.
Bought back another $200M of stock. BHI repurchased 3.4 million shares at an average price of $58.82. Thus, since expanding its buyback authorization in October 2013 by 67% or $800M to $2B, BHI has spent $550M on the repurchase of 9.7M shares at an average price of $56.70. It now has $1.45B remaining under the authorization.
Peers like National OIlwell Varco (NOV) and Newpark Resources (NR) were also rising on Thursday.
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