Nabors Industries Q3 Results Top Estimates

(RTTNews) - Oil drilling and rig services provider Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) reported Tuesday a profit for the third quarter compared to a loss last year, reflecting increased margins and double-digit revenue growth amid improved results in both drilling and completions operations. Both adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations and quarterly revenue topped analysts' expectations.

"The third quarter presented solid operating results across all of our businesses except Production Services, where weather and ongoing spending constraints of a key customer led to lower sequential results. Our International operation realized the largest sequential improvement in operating income, followed by Completion Services, Canrig and the seasonal recovery in Canada," Chairman, President and CEO Tony Petrello said in a statement.

The Hamilton, Bermuda-based company reported net income of $61.04 million or $0.20 per share for the third quarter, compared to a net loss of $105.38 million or $0.35 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Income from continuing operations for the quarter was $57.43 million or $0.19 per share, compared to a loss of $90.51 million or $0.30 per share in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings from continuing operations was $116.73 million or $0.39 per share, compared to $74.01 million or $0.24 per share last year.

On average, 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.36 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Total revenues and other income for the quarter increased 17 percent to $1.81 billion from $1.55 billion in the same quarter last year, and topped sixteen Wall Street analysts. Consensus estimate of $1.72 billion.

Drilling and rig services revenues grew to $1.27 billion from $1.09 billion, as well as completion and production services revenues increased to $611.89 million from $513.33 million from the year-ago quarter.

The company noted that most of its segments continued to take advantage of the favorable market conditions to materially improve margins.

"I am very pleased with the sequential progression of our results in both our drilling and completions operations. Despite the third quarter performance of our production services operation, I continue to believe we will see improvement in this business as 2015 progresses, assuming supportive oil prices. The recent new contract awards and the volume of ongoing discussions support our positive bias and appear to indicate a resiliency among most of our customers regarding temporary swings in oil price," Petrello added.

Meanwhile, the company said it will continue to execute its numerous initiatives to improve its service quality and cost structure, and to deploy its backlog of new rigs on schedule and within budget.

NBR closed Tuesday's regular trading session at $18.65, up $0.78 or 4.36% on a volume of 9.24 million shares. The stock gained a further $0.60 or 3.22% in after-hours trading.