Weatherford International (NYSE: WFT) provides equipment and services for the drilling and production sectors of the oil and gas industry. The firm specializes in contract drilling, formation evaluation, well installation/completion systems, "fishing" services, oil recovery, and pipeline services. The company operates in over 100 countries and employs approximately 40,500 people worldwide. Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) and Schlumberger Limited (NYSE: SLB) are competitors.
The stock popped with the sector last Friday, when crude oil concluded a six percent weekly gain with its fourth new closing high. On Monday, the firm reported essentially in-line first quarter results and announced a 2-for-1 stock split (payable May 23).
The drug maker posted net income of $3.3 billion, or $1.52 per share, for the January-March period, up from $1.7 billion, or 78 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding one-time items, Merck earned 89 cents per share, beating by three cents the forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
Revenues totaled $5.82 billion, up 1% from $5.77 billion in the first three months of 2007, but below analysts' expectations of $6.11 billion. The company attributed the slow sales growth to the weak U.S. dollar.
Merck shares fell Monday 13 cents, to close at $39.63. Shares are down 23% in the past year.
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U.S. futures are down this morning after Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) released disappointing figures for the quarter. The country's second-largest bank said net income plunged to $1.21 billion, or 23 cents a share, from $5.26 billion, or $1.16 a share, a year ago. Analysts had been expecting earnings of 41 cents a share.
Meanwhile, Merck (NYS: MRK) said first-quarter income jumped 94% to $3.3 million, or $1.52 a share, from $1.7 million, or 78 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding a $1.4 billion gain from the AstraZeneca partnership and restructuring charges, Merck posted income of 89 cents a share. Worldwide sales climbed 1% to $5.8 billion, aided by the weak U.S. dollar.
Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) said Q1 earnings rose to $584 million from $552 million, while revenue increased to $4.03 billion from $3.42 billion, a year earlier. Elli Lilly reported earnings of $1.06 billion, or 97 cents a share, up from $508.7 million, or 47 cents. Analysts had expected somewhat better numbers from Lilly.
Despite a week of mixed earnings reports, the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 surged Friday, each ending the week up more than 4%. This is another big week of earnings reports, with Texas Instruments reporting today after the bell.
Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), an oil services firm, is scheduled to report Q1 EPS on April 21. Bloomberg reported HAL may offer to buy Expro International Group to counter a bid from Candover Partners. HAL May option implied volatility of 37 is above its 26-week average of 33 according to Track Data, suggesting slightly larger price fluctuations.
Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) is scheduled to report Q1 EPS on April 21. TXN May option implied volatility of 34 is near its 26-week average of 32 according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.
Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Semiconductors, ADC Telecomm and Nationwide Financial were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Banc of America upgraded the Semiconductor Sector to Overweight from Market Weight citing indications of a bottom given earnings estimate revision momentum and supply chain inventory levels. The firm upgraded Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Power Integrations (NASDAQ:POWI) and Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC) to Buy from Neutral and PMC Sierra (NASDAQ:PMCS) and LSI Corp (NYSE:LSI) to Neutral from Sell.
Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of ADC Telecomm (NASDAQ:ADCT) to Buy from Hold as they believe April consensus estimates could prove conservative.
UBS raised Nationwide Financial (NYSE::NFS) to Buy from Neutral and believes a higher offer by Nationwide Mutual is likely.
OTHER UPGRADES:
Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
Westlate Chemical (NYSE:WLK) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Cott Corp, Hartford Financial, Allstate and Valero Energy were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Lehman upgraded Cott Corp (NYSE: COT) to Equal Weight from Underweight citing recent management changes, a focus on CSD business, and new product discipline.
Bernstein believes the entire non-life insurance group is oversold and that it is time to buy; the firm upgraded Hartford Financial (NYSE: HIG) and Allstate (NYSE: ALL) to Outperform from Market Perform.
Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) was raised to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank on valuation with the stock trading at a -30% discount to NAV while the asset market for U.S. refineries is strong.
OTHER UPGRADES:
Goldman added Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) to its Conviction Buy List.
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says three widely held beliefs are just too bullish to be true.
Sometimes it just hits you. You will be reading an article about some fund manager somewhere who sounds perfectly intelligent and you will spot it, the holy grail of the moment -- THE CONSENSUS. I won't mention the fellow's name -- it is unimportant -- because he's good at his job, but the thoughts he is currently expounding sound like many others I hear, to wit:
1. Oil prices will fall to $80 a barrel.
2. The dollar will rise when the Fed stops cutting rates.
3. GDP growth in China will slow.
First, let me just say that those events would be bullish for every domestic company in our universe, including the financials, and we would have a miracle bull market where less than 20% of the market -- ag/mineral/oil and gas/infra --collapses and fully 80% of the market can rally (I am including the health care stocks because, somehow, they have been seen to become hostage to the weak federal government, and in this scenario I don't see the federal government as worried about cutting back spending).
The president's concern struck me as odd because most folks having an IQ higher than their age would probably agree that President Bush overreacted in Iraq, and underreacted at home. Thus increasing the probability that we would fall into an economic quagmire that the best and brightest would have difficulty escaping.
I think I am being very generous when I say "increasing the probability" because many on the left and on the right of the political spectrum would be much more frank and say Dubya, you own this one pal!
That being said, one might argue that Bush has his rights and his lefts mixed up, as well as his rights and his wrongs. I happen to agree with the president that the federal government could overreact (and has) and do the wrong things -- with bipartisan support no doubt. For example I think the $156 billion tax rebate is very bad policy, not helping anyone and hurting everyone -- see Serious Money: Stimulate productivity not consumption. I hope anybody reading that particular Serious Money post finds it worthy of starting an e-mail storm because not enough folks understand this point.
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says balance sheets are strong, so spillover isn't an issue.
I get emails and postings almost every day from fixed-income specialists, saying that the credit markets' myriad problems simply aren't being reflected in the equity markets, and that's just plain wrong. They warn us equity players that we are dreamers and that it is just a matter of time before the terrible problems in collateralized debt, huge leverage, and now auction rate preferred notes spill over into equities and that any rally in stocks is just a fool's paradise.
There's a problem with this inevitability story though, one that eludes these critics and might continue to elude them -- it hasn't happened yet, despite a year's worth of turmoil. That's a long time for a big problem like this to be cordoned, so it is worth looking at whether the naysayers are wrong and something else is at work.
When I look around at the vast choices of assets out there for the thousands of fund managers and institutions that have to put their money somewhere -- provided it is not dedicated to a particular asset from the get-go -- I see one world in chaos and another world in order. The bond market, the credit market, is in total disarray, with every aspect of its existence save Treasuries under fire. We know now that a simple reset market for municipals is failing because, of course, the charade of the bond insurers and their chimerical protection. The CDO market stinks. This is a multibillion dollar market where no one can figure out the prices of anything and the spreads between the bid and the ask are so wide that no one can afford to own or trade them. You don't know where they are marked. You don't know what's in them. You don't know what they are really rated. They are basically worth nothing right now to anyone. Commercial paper? Hardly worth the pick-up in interest. "Cash reserves"? We have seen the "buck" supported over and over again. There has to be a moment where the buck is broken.
JP Morgan upgraded Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) from Neutral to Overweight.
Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) was also upgraded at JP Morgan from Underweight to Overweight. PALM shares are trading up over 9.5% in premarket action after closing up over 11% Friday.
UBS downgraded American Express (NYSE: AXP) from Buy to Sell. Shares are down some 1.5% in premarket trading.
Soleil downgraded Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) from Buy to Hold.
Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS)'s 3-D movie Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concerttopped movie box offices, raking in $29 million for the biggest opening over a normally slow Super Bowl weekend, according to studio estimates on Sunday. Lionsgate's The Eye took the No. 2 slot at U.S. and Canadian box offices with a $13 million weekend. The No. 3 movie was romantic comedy 27 Dresses with $8.4 million.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) will introduce a new hybrid full-size pickup -- the 2009 GMC Sierra -- and a concept hybrid truck -- GMC Denali XT -- this week at the Chicago Auto Show, betting that pickup drivers have been itching to jump on the hybrid bandwagon.
For its quarterly profit, Halliburton posted a rise of nearly 5%. The press release claims "This increase was attributable to increased worldwide activity, particularly in the Eastern Hemisphere," where the company is placing greater resources. Halliburton said its profit climbed to $690 million, or 75 cents per share from $658 million, or 64 cents a share, during the same period a year ago. Included in the company's figures was $22 million after-tax charge related to the impairment in Bangladesh, and $8 million of after-tax expenses related to executive-separation costs.
Income from continuing operations in the fourth quarter of 2007 was $674 million, or $0.74 per diluted share, beating analysts expectations of earnings of 69 cents per share.
The company's results also show a respectable 19% jump in revenue to $4.2 billion, up from $3.5 billion a year earlier. Analysts had forecast $4.1 billion in revenue, according to Reuters Estimates.
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks: 
Some good news: 
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Halliburton
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My colleague 
Shares of oilfield services provider 
Just how high will U.S. gasoline prices rise?
Nordstrom and Kohl's post smaller-than-expected Q1 profit declines
Oil hits record $127.43 on supply concerns, raised Goldman forecast
