Is Weatherford Poised to Zoom?

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For a while, it was touch and go. But I do believe that Weatherford's (NYSE: WFT) in the process of making a believer of me.

In fact, after the company released its earnings bright and early on Monday morning, its shares languished, only to gain ground as talk of a Gulf of Mexico hurricane nudged crude prices higher. But for a while, it'd appeared that Mr. Market was focusing more on a slight negative in the company's numbers, rather than on what clearly looks to be a strengthening situation.

So were the company's results disappointing? Not really. In fact, its $300 million in income from continuing operations was up nearly 28% from the same quarter last year. That relative gain was more than double Schlumberger's (NYSE: SLB) earnings improvement.

The per-share line came in at $0.43 before a non-recurring $0.09 gain from a restructuring of Weatherford's Qatar operation, which is now a joint venture. It turns out that the dart-throwers who follow the company had been expecting a couple pennies more.

But in the case of the Houston-based oilfield services company, there are other numbers that are lots more important than its two-penny miss. For instance, even its North America revenues were up 15%. And that was chicken feed compared to the 28% to 34% growth in the company's other geographic markets. More important than any of these metrics, however, was CEO Bernard Duroc-Danner's contention during his conference call that his company's international revenues should grow by 40% or more in 2009.

I know, I know -- about 45% of Weatherford's revenues are generated in North America, and I can tell you're thinking that there's just no way that North American revenues will leap up anywhere close to 40%. You're probably right, but don't lose sight of the unconventional gas plays that are popping up across the continent under the watchful eyes of the likes of Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK), Plains Exploration & Production (NYSE: PXP) and EnCana (NYSE: ECA). I have to believe that success stories like the Hayneville, the Barnett, and the Montney will drive a lot of good North American business for Weatherford and its peers in the years to come.

So while I'm eager to hear other oilfield services companies like Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) tell us about their quarters later this week, I'm not taking my eyes off Weatherford. And judging by the company’s top-of-the-line 5-star rating in the investor intelligence database that is Motley Fool CAPS, neither are you.

For related Foolishness:

• Weatherford Finds Its Passing Gear
• Schlumberger: Stronger for Longer
• Chesapeake Scores