Halliburton Analyst Still Sees Over 50% Upside

By Chris Lange Updated Oct 23, 7:09AM EDT · Published Oct 22, 3:56PM EDT

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Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) was reviewed favorably by Argus in a report on Wednesday, following its earnings release last Monday. The company had reported its earnings as $1.19 per share and $8.70 billion in revenue. With the degree that shares have fallen since this summer, this is a significant call on the surface. Argus reiterated a Buy rating for Halliburton with a target price of $84. Reiterating a rating doesn’t sound like much, but this implies upside of roughly 55% is still available for patient investors.

The company has seen strong momentum in the North American onshore market, one of its major growth drivers. Halliburton continues to benefit from new drilling and completion techniques and from the focus of E&P companies on unconventional resources.

Argus said in its report:

The operating margin was 19.8%, up from 17.8% in 3Q13. Strength in the C&P business was driven mainly by higher U.S. land activity and slightly higher pricing on pressure pumping contract renewals. In 3Q14, the U.S. horizontal rig count rose 20% year-over-year. Halliburton continues to benefit from increasing completion service intensity, as measured by a more than 30% increase in the fracking stage count and a more than 50% increase in average sand per well.

The increase in completion service intensity reflects a continued trend toward larger completion volumes in North American unconventional resource basins. This increasing well intensity, coupled with a reduction in excess industry capacity, has resulted in higher utilization and modest pricing improvements. This stronger pricing is helping to offset expected cost inflation, and should begin to have a positive impact on C&P earnings in 2015. Halliburton is responding to the increase in completion volumes by expanding its infrastructure and transport capability.

It is increasing its sand terminal capacity by more than 100% and plans to double its current rail fleet. The Drilling and Evaluation (E&C) segment posted 3Q operating income of $451 million, down 2.2% from the prior year period. The operating margin fell to 13.7% from 15.5% a year earlier.

Shares have underperformed over the past three months, with a loss of 25% compared to a loss of 4% in the S&P 500. Over the past year, shares have underperformed with a 2% return compared to an 11% return from the index.

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Shares traded down over 2% at $54.45 in the last hour of trading Wednesday. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $73.56 and a 52-week trading range of $47.60 to $74.33. The company has a market cap $46 billion, and as a reminder Halliburton has been a big buyer of its own shares as well, and the company recently increased its dividend.

About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.