As earnings season winds down, it continues to appear that the oilfield services contingent deserves attention from Foolish investors. Oh, I know, black gold has backed off a little bit, but with all of Baker Hughes' (NYSE: BHI) segments and geographic areas showing profits, it becomes more difficult to argue for a long-term avoidance of the group.
Baker Hughes earned $129 million, or $0.41 per share, compared with earnings of $195 million, or $0.63 a year, earlier. The earlier quarter also included restructuring and acquisition-related expenses. Revenue in the most recent quarter was $2.54 billion, a 5% drop from the first quarter of 2009. Analysts who follow the company had expected a per-share figure of $0.38.
As was the case with other big services companies, including Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), Weatherford (NYSE: WFT), and Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB), on a year-on-year basis, Baker chalked up its strongest performance in North America. And while all the other locations rang up pre-tax profits, our own continent was the only spot where profits actually expanded.
As CEO Chad Deaton noted following the release of results, "Q1 was a good quarter for Baker Hughes. We delivered strong results in North America, with the increase in drilling activity and the benefits of a lean organization drove the improvement in our operating margins." As he also pointed out, the company closed on its acquisition of BJ Services last week, pending required asset sales; the two companies will continue to operate separately domestically.
Looking ahead, CFO Peter Ragauss told those on the company's call, "Looking forward to Q2, we believe that operating EPS on a combined basis will be in the low $0.40 range, including the impact of the spring break up in Canada, Gulf of Mexico issues, and the dilutive impact of a higher share count." We all know the Gulf issues that he was referring to. Hopefully we'll learn more about their specific consequences when Transocean (NYSE: RIG) reports after the market closes today and on the subsequent conference call.
In the meantime, Baker Hughes clearly delivered a solid quarter, as have the other large services companies. And with its new contributions from BJ Services, I'd urge fools to pay special attention to what I believe is a company on the move that may be getting unfairly punished by Mr. Market.
