Think of the French way of saying the name of discount retailer Target (NYSE:TGT) and you'll be able to figure out how to pronounce oil field services firm Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB). Whichever way you say its name, though, it means the same thing: money. And lots of it.
At a time when rival Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was reporting a net loss from one-time charges, Schlumberger (oh, OK, say it with me: Shlum-ber-zhay) was reporting that profits were tripling, with net income jumping to $356 million from $112 million one year ago. Oil prices are soaring around the world, and oil companies have increased their drilling activity, which has led to expanding profits for the services industry. Just last week I noted that Carbo Ceramics (NYSE:CRR) had posted record profits too. It's a supplier to both Schlumberger and Halliburton.
Schlumberger is the world's No. 1 energy services company, with top-notch drilling, seismic, and pumping technologies. It's taken to focusing only on its core business, shearing off everything not related to the oil field services, particularly information technology. Thinking that China and Russia will be the next big growth markets, it has taken a position in Russia's largest independent oil field services contractor, PatroAlliance, and will buy the rest of the company sometime over the next two years.
Integrated oil company ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is also looking to Russia, cementing a deal to acquire 8% of Russia's Lukoil, the world's second largest private oil company, with 15.5 million barrels of proven reserves.
Most other major oil companies will be announcing their earnings this week, and they're expected to be gushers too. ChevronTexaco (NYSE:CVX) was said by one analyst to be "printing money," and most expect ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) to do just as well.
Schlumberger's board of directors was bolstered enough by the company's performance to authorize a share buyback program of 15 million shares by 2006. It has a strong balance sheet to support the effort, and its only disappointment was that of WesternGeco, its seismic joint venture with Baker Hughes (NYSE:BHI). Surprisingly, it had been this venture that had been bolstering Schlumberger for the past six months.
Whether the company's name reminds you of charbroiled ground beef or a fine French wine, its quarterly performance was such that even at these lofty price levels, it should warm your heart and your portfolio.
Fool contributor Rich Duprey is warmed by a bottle of Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio. He owns shares in Carbo Ceramics but not of any other stock mentioned in this article.
