Schlumberger Sort of Beats Low Expectations (SLB, HAL, WFT)

The world’s largest oilfield services company, Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE:SLB), reported earnings this morning. The resemblance to the earnings reports from Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) and Weatherford International Limited (NYSE: WFT) from earlier this week is almost spooky.

Analysts had lowered estimates for both revenue and profit, and Schlumberger almost delivered. EPS for the first quarter was $0.78 against estimates of $0.73. Revenue totaled $6.0 billion ($5.44 billion in the services business and the rest from seismic services), which is slightly worse than estimates of $6.04 billion.

In the first quarter of 2008, the company posted revenue of $6.29 billion and in the fourth quarter of 2008, revenues reached $6.87 billion. EPS fell 28% year-over-year, and 25% sequentially.

Schlumberger pointed to a “precipitous drop” in natural gas drilling in North America, a slowdown in Russia, and weak foreign currencies as the principle reasons for the lower numbers. The company also noted it does not expect “any significant recovery in North American gas drilling before 2010.” Foreign prospects are not much better because customers “are actively seeking and are obtaining price relief to improve the economics of current projects.”

Estimates for next quarter project an even lower bar to jump over, with a full-year average EPS estimate of $2.55. That’s about $0.64/share per quarter, so no one appears to looking for a recovery this year.

Traders appear happy with the results. Schlumberger shares are up more than 5% in pre-market trading, to $49.00/share. The 52-week trading range is $35.05-$111.95.

Paul Ausick
April 24, 2009