If producing oil and gas were as easy as digging a nice deep hole, then siphoning those fossil fuels up through a garden hose, there wouldn't be any need for Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB). Fortunately for its shareholders, the world's major oil companies have ample need for Schlumberger's services, and this boom has been good to the company.
Revenue this quarter rose another 34% and margins expanded once again. That, in turn, led to an 85% jump in income from continuing ops (before charges, credits, etc.). Growth was also fairly well-balanced, with oilfield services growing the top line at 34% and Western Geco coming in with 40% higher revenue.
Good as these results were, they could have been even a bit better. Results in the Europe/Russia area were hurt by a three-week interruption due to harsh winter weather in Russia. Gee, bad winter weather in Russia -- who'd have guessed?
In any case, higher rig counts, more impetus to pump more oil, and increases in exploration activities are fueling strong growth across the globe. As a global operator, Schlumberger is well-positioned to benefit -- whether it's with BP (NYSE: BP) in Alaska, Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) in Brazil, Statoil (NYSE: STO) in Europe, or Aramco in Saudi Arabia.
Schlumberger and Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) also announced that Schlumberger would be buying Baker's 30% stake in Western Geco for $2.4 billion in cash. (Baker will use the after-tax remainder for share repurchases.) That's a hefty amount of change, and Schulmberger says it can justify the deal without presuming any synergies or pull-through with the oilfield services business.
Now, Schlumberger had a bad rap a while back for making some boneheaded investment decisions, but it's long since reformed its ways. If the company thinks that future exploration and development activity will justify this price tag, we Fools might want to pay attention.
While Schlumberger is probably the best energy services company out there, I have mixed feelings on the stock. It's a great play on a prolonged upswing in energy, and it definitely has best-of-breed qualities, but it's just not that cheap -- and I'm a bargain-hunter above all else. So while I wouldn't try to talk anybody out of buying (or holding the stock), I myself am looking at other ideas that I think are bigger bargains.
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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).
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