Now here's what the energy industry didn't need.
There was already some anxiety in the North American market because of the uncertain fate of natural gas prices, but the squawking from Washington is a new potential problem -- particularly if it leads to less drilling. So while I'm finding Weatherford (NYSE:WFT) more and more interesting as a company these days, I'm a little less sanguine about the stock.
Of course, whatever may happen in Washington, D.C., has nothing to do with what did happen out in Houston this quarter. Revenue was up 79% (swelled by an acquisition) as both the drilling and production services businesses had great quarters. In this particular case, comparisons with the fourth quarter might be a bit more informative: Revenue rose 5% sequentially, and the company's 12% sales growth in North America doubled its 6% increase in rig count.
Now of course, none of this is really all that surprising, right? I mean, we saw similar strong results from other service providers like Halliburton (NYSE:HAL), Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB), BJ Services (NYSE:BJS), and so on. All the same, I can't help but include a quote from management's conference call (given in response to a question about raised guidance) -- "everything is better than we expected."
So here's what I like about Weatherford. While it's absolutely true that this company has underperformed its peers in the past (in terms of return on capital employed), it's nevertheless undervalued if it can achieve the things it says it will. Most importantly, there's a real opportunity to take the assets from the Precision Drilling (NYSE:PDS) deal and leverage them over its international operations.
And that international exposure is an important part to this story. Sure, things are fine now in the U.S. and Canada, but as recent governmental jaw-jacking suggests, that might not always be the case. And if moves in gas prices or government policy really hurt the small operators (sometimes called checkbook operators), that international exposure will be even more of a boon.
All of that said, I'm not scrambling to buy these shares. It's a good company and I like its international potential, but the stock's price today isn't at a level where I feel comfortable enough buying in (though I don't think it's necessarily overvalued). Should the stock overreact to possible issues in North America, though, I'd certainly revisit the idea of buying.
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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).
