Halliburton’s latest earnings report tells two different stories, depending on which side of the globe you’re looking at. A Vestronyx finance expert broke down the results, and the picture that emerges is of a company that has quietly shifted its center of gravity away from U.S. shores.
Revenue for the quarter came in at $5.7 billion, edging past the analyst consensus of $5.58 billion. Adjusted earnings came in at $0.60 per share, two cents above estimates. Shares moved higher in early trading.
On the surface, it reads as a clean beat. Pull back the layers, and you find a company running two very different businesses in the same earnings report.
The Domestic Drag
North America is not cooperating. Revenue from that segment came in at $2.2 billion, a 5% drop from the prior quarter, with weakness concentrated in U.S. land pressure pumping. That’s the hydraulic fracturing business, the core of what made Halliburton’s domestic franchise so dominant during the shale boom.
Demand for that service has softened, and management isn’t banking on a reversal. The official guidance for the coming year assumes the U.S. land market stays flat, with no recovery in fracturing activity factored in. Any pickup there would be treated as upside, not baseline.
The Completion and Production segment, which captures most of the North American exposure, posted $3.1 billion in revenue, down 4% from both the prior year and prior quarter.
Operating income from that division fell 11% to $457 million, pulling the segment margin down from around 16% to roughly 14.8%. The numbers reflect a business that’s leaning on international work to hold its footing.
Where the Growth Is Coming From
International revenue moved in the opposite direction, reaching $3.5 billion and rising 3% from the prior quarter. The strongest performance came out of the Middle East and Asia corridor, which generated $1.4 billion in revenue.
That figure represents an 8% gain quarter-over-quarter, driven by heavier project activity across Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Latin America held flat overall, with Mexico’s growth absorbing a decline in Argentina. Europe and Africa were similarly flat, as stronger activity in Nigeria offset reduced work in Namibia.
The Drilling and Evaluation segment carried the quarter. Revenue reached $2.6 billion, up 10% year-over-year, while operating income climbed 12% to $391 million. The segment margin ticked up modestly, from around 14.7% to 15.0%. Halliburton’s two main divisions now earn nearly identical margins, a meaningful shift from their historical gap.
Margin Recovery With a Caveat
Adjusted operating margin came in at 12.8%, with total operating income of $731 million, a 7% improvement over the prior quarter despite essentially flat revenue.
Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) hit $1.0 billion, translating to a 17.5% EBITDA margin. That’s down slightly from 18.0% a year ago but meaningfully better than the 16.6% recorded the quarter before.
Reported earnings per share reached $0.50, well above the $0.02 from the same period last year. Net income attributable to shareholders came in at $417 million against $18 million previously.
The comparison looks dramatic, but context matters. The prior-year quarter was weighted down by a $125 million tax charge and a $23 million impairment tied to Argentina operations. Strip those out, and underlying earnings show a more moderate progression.
A Quarter in Context
Halliburton’s current position looks different when measured against its own recent history. Three years ago, the company was riding the post-pandemic energy spending surge, with North American pressure pumping at peak utilization and international markets just beginning to re-accelerate.
That combination pushed adjusted EBITDA margins into the 19–20% range for several consecutive quarters. The current 17.5% reflects a step down from that peak, largely tracking the softening in U.S. land activity that began in late 2024.
Standing in the Field
Among the three dominant oilfield services companies, Halliburton occupies a distinct position. SLB (formerly Schlumberger) operates the broadest international footprint and generates a larger share of revenue from technology licensing and digital services.
Baker Hughes has diversified further into industrial energy equipment, reducing its direct exposure to drilling cycles. Halliburton sits between them, more internationally exposed than its historical profile suggested, but still more leveraged to North American activity than SLB.
Reading the Signals Before the Next Move
Three things are worth tracking: the pace of margin expansion toward the 15% target, the durability of international revenue growth, and whether cash conversion improves as working capital stabilizes. North American activity remains the wildcard.
Given the cyclical nature of oilfield spending, exposure sizing should account for that variability. Staged entries tend to manage timing risk more effectively than single-point commitments in a sector where the cycle can shift faster than guidance suggests.