==Weatherford (WFRD) relists on Nasdaq as prospects improve

• Weatherford once was the fourth largest oilfield services company before crude prices plunged in 2015; the company struggled thereafter, amassed $8.3B in debt and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019.
• The COVID-19 pandemic smacked demand for oil and gas, forcing the company to cut costs and reduce headcount.
• But "we've got a lot more stability now, and this really marks what we're referring to as the next chapter for Weatherford," Girish Saligram, who became President and CEO in October, tells WSJ.
• Weatherford's market valuation on June 1 a year ago was $143M; its current market cap totals $870M. 

-=Weatherford (WFT) reported earnings on Mon 29 Oct 2018 (b/o)

Oct 29 (Reuters) - Shares of U.S. oilfield services provider Weatherford International fell sharply on Monday after the company's free cash flow and fourth-quarter guidance fell below analysts' expectations.

The Houston-based company, which has not reported a quarterly profit in four years, has struggled under the weight of a massive debt load since oil prices crashed in 2014. In the third quarter, Weatherford reported over $7.6 billion in long-term debt.

Weatherford's stock was down about 9 percent at $1.80 a share in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Last week, shares fell below $2, the lowest level in more than 20 years.

The company continued to generate negative free cash flow for the quarter, but said it expects to be cash flow-positive in 2019. Adjusted free cash flow for the quarter was about $35 million below the company's goal of breakeven, Chief Executive Mark McCollum said during the company's conference call.

"Our progress this quarter has not come without some bumps in the road," McCollum said, pointing to what he characterized as transitory supply chain issues.

The company reported a loss of $199 million, or 20 cents per share, for the third quarter, from $256 million, or 26 cents per share, a year earlier.

Weatherford said margins from its operations in the Western Hemisphere, its biggest market, rose 10.2 percent from 0.4 percent a year earlier.

Weatherford expects single-digit increases in operator spending next year and stronger offshore tendering activity.

However, near term the company will continue to see the impact of transportation bottlenecks in North America, which have hurt oilfield service companies, including rivals Schlumberger NV and Halliburton Co. Weatherford expects fourth-quarter revenues to be flat with the third quarter.

Analysts had mixed reactions to Weatherford's results. Researchers at investment firm Jefferies called the earnings report "positive" and said improved margins in the Western Hemisphere were a signal that McCollum's transformation efforts were working.

However, Wells Fargo on Monday said the results were negative, pointing to free cash flow that fell below expectations and the company's bleak fourth-quarter outlook, according to a note.

McCollum, who has been selling underperforming businesses and restructuring the company since becoming CEO last year, said Weatherford would no longer put a timeline on planned divestitures.

Third quarter revenue fell slightly to $1.44 billion from $1.46 billion.

Excluding onetime items, the company lost 10 cents per share, versus an expected loss of 12 cents per share, according to Refinitiv data. 

Earnings this week : Oct 29 - Nov 2, 18 (wk 44)

Headlining earnings this week will be Facebook (FB) on Tuesday and Apple (AAPL) on Thursday. Other notable earnings reports include General Electric (GE), Pfizer (PFE), and Coca-Cola (KO) on Tuesday, General Motors (GM) on Wednesday, Starbucks (SBUX) on Thursday, and Alibaba (BABA) on Friday.

Monday (Oct 29) 

• Morning: FDC YNDX BAH ON AMG CDAY RAMP WFT
• Afternoon:   AEIS AKAM ALSN AMED AMKR APPF APTI ARE AVB AXGN BLKB BRX CACC CBL CGNX CHE CHGG CLR CYH EFII EGHT EHC ELVT EPR ESV FCPT FET FTSI HIIQ HLIT HTLF INST KAI KBR KLAC KNL MDLZ MEDP NLS OFIX OGS OLN PI QGEN QTNA QTS RE RIG RMBS SANM SCI SSD TCO TKR TNET TREX TXRH UDR VNO VNOM VRNS WCN WING

Tuesday (Oct 30)

• Morning:  CHK + ACCO AER AET AGCO AGN AMRC AMT AN AOS ARII ARNC ARRY AWI BHGE BKI BP BPMC BTU CEQP CIGI CMCO CMI CNX CNXM CTSH CVLT EAT ECL ERJ ETN EXP FCAU FDP FIS FLIR FLOW FMS FUN GE GPN GWR HCA HEP HMC HUN HZO I INCY IPGP IPI KEM KO LL LYB MA MAS MSM NEO NTLA OXSQ PEG PFE SABR SHOO SNE SQNS SSTK ST TECH TPR TRS UAA VMC VNTR VSH WAB WCG WDR WELL WH WLH XYL
• Afternoon: ACGL AEGN AFG AINV AMGN APAM APC BAND BEAT BGS BHE BIDU BJRI BXP CAI CAKE CHRW CLVS CONE CRAY CW CXO DDD DENN EA EBAY EIX EVTC EXAS EXR FB FEYE FLT GNW H HABT HCLP HLF HURN HVT HY INN IQ IRTC LNTH MDR MGM MGRC MOBL MOD MRCY MX MXIM MXL NANO NBR NCR NGHC NTRI NUVA NXGN OI OKE ORBC OSPN PAYC PDM PSA QLYS QNST QUAD RBBN REXR RNR RPAI RRD RXN SF SFLY SIMO SKYW SPWR SSW TCS TENB TMUS TTMI TX ULTI VOYA VRSK WES WGP WIRE WLL WNC XLRN YUMC ZEN

Wednesday (Oct 31)

• Morning: ACOR ADP AEE AIT ANTM APO APTV ARCC AUO BAX BCOR BDC BG CAMT CBZ CDW CG CIM CLH CLX CRTO CVE DBD DIN EGL EL EPD ETR GM GNC GRMN HCP HES HFC HSC IART ICE ICPT IGT K KFRC LFUS LIVN MAXR NEWM OMI ORBK PBF PBFX RDC RDN S SAIA SC SITE SNY SPAR SPR STNG TAP TEL THR TMHC UTHR WD WEC WEX YUM    
• Afternoon: ADSW AGI AIG ALL AMGP AMN APA AR ATH AWK AXTI BLDP CACI CDE CF CLI CMP CNO CRY ENSG ESRT ESRX FARO FISV FIT FORM FOXF FRAC FRT HBM HCC HGV HPR JBT KIDS KRG KW LHCG LSI MAA MAC MASI MDU MOH MRC MTDR MUSA MYRG NE NEXA NFX NLY NPO NXPI O OMF OTEX PKI PPC PRAH QRVO RGLD RGR RPT RYN SOI SSNC STAY STMP SU THG TS TUSK TYL WHD WMB WPX WTI XPO ZNGA

Thursday (Nov 1)

• Morning: ECA   AAON AAWW ABMD AGIO ALE AMAG AMCX AME AMRN ARES AROC ARW AVP AYR BCE BID BLL BMCH BSIG CBRE CCOI CEIX CHD CHSP CI CJ CNQ CNSL CRAI CWT D DM DNOW DWDP EEX EGRX EPAM EXC EXLS FBM FLWS FND GEL GIL GLOG GLPI GNRC GOLF HBI HPP IBP ICL IDA IDCC IDXX IIVI INAP INGR INXN IPHS IT ITGR JHG LCII LITE LXRX MD MDC MGP MGPI MIXT MMP MPC MPW MSCI MSG MT NBL NI NSP NTCT NVMI NYT OSK PAH PBH PBI PENN PH PPL PRFT PWR RDS.A ROCK SEE SFM SHPG SN SNDR SNR SPOT SSYS STFC STOR TEVA TFX THS TPX TREE TRP TVPT UFS USCR USPH VECO VSAT VSTO W WCC WRLD WYND YRCW ZTS 
• Afternoon: AAPL ACIA ACLS AGI AIRG AIV ALEX AMH ANET AOSL APPN ARCB ATGE ATHN ATR ATRC ATSG BCOV BFAM BIO BL BLDR BNFT BRKR BVX CARB CATM CBPO CBS CC CCRN CECO CERS CHEF CPS CPSI CRC CRUS CTRL CWST CZR DEI DHT EBS ECOL ED EEP EGOV ELGX EOG EQIX ERII ES EXEL FATE FICO FLR FTAI FTNT GPRO GSAT GSBD GTE HR HST HTGC ICFI IMMR IPHI KAMN KHC KTWO KWR LADR LHO LNC LOCO LYV MDRX MELI MET MITK MSI MTX OLED P PACB PBA PBYI PCTY PE PEB PETX PK PMT PODD RMAX ROG RP RTEC RTRX RYI SBUX SEDG SEM SHAK SHLX SKT SM SPXC SRCL SRG STAG SYMC TDC TDOC TEX TNDM TRMB TRQ TSRO TTOO UNIT USX VIAV VICI WIFI WTW WU X Y 

Friday (Nov 2)

• Morning:  ABBV ABR ASIX AXL BABA BPL CBOE CCJ CNK COL CVX DOC DUK EAF ENB EXTR FTS HMSY HRC IMGN IMO ITT MDP MOG.A MSGN NPTN NWL RLGY ROLL RUTH STX TDS TGH TRTN TWI TYPE USM VG VIRT VST WLTW WPC XOM

=Weatherford (WFT) reported earnings on Tue 24 Apr 2018 (b/o)

Weatherford beats by $0.04, misses on revs

• Reports Q1 (Mar) loss of $0.19 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.23); revenues rose 2.7% year/year to $1.42 bln vs the $1.45 bln Capital IQ Consensus. The sequential revenue decrease was due to non-repeating year-end product sales as well as seasonal declines in the North Sea and Russia. The year-over-year increase was primarily due to activity increases in the U.S., Argentina and Mexico in the Western Hemisphere and Kuwait, Iraq, Russia and Saudi Arabia in the Eastern Hemisphere, partially offset by a decrease in Venezuela as a result of a change in accounting for revenue to cash basis and depressed offshore markets in the North Sea, West Africa and Asia.

=Weatherford WFT) scraps joint venture, sells a business to Schlumberger (SLB)

HOUSTON, Dec 29 (Reuters) - U.S. oilfield services company Weatherford International Plc on Friday sold a U.S. oil-well business to rival Schlumberger NV for $430 million, abandoning a planned joint venture.

Weatherford has struggled with losses and has been looking to sell units and raise cash to reduce about $7.9 billion in debt. It suffered a $875 million loss on $4.21 billion in revenue for the first nine months of this year.

In March, the company agreed to put its North American pressure pumping and well completions operations into a venture with Schlumberger in exchange for $535 million in cash and a 30 percent stake in the resulting business, called OneStim. The effort was designed to better compete against market leader Halliburton and fast-growing companies such as Keane Group.

On Friday, the joint venture was abruptly called off as Weatherford sold its U.S. pressure pumping assets used to hydraulically fracture shale rock to release trapped oil and gas, and transferred about 100 employees to Schlumberger.

The new deal "delivers cash proceeds that enable our company to begin the deleveraging process," Weatherford Chief Executive Mark McCollum said in a statement. Keeping the U.S. and Canadian well-completions operation "allows for significant upside potential," he added.

Pressure pumping specialists have been expanding rapidly with strong demand from shale producers taking advantage of higher crude prices. This month, Keane Group Inc said it would spend $115 million to expand its fleet, citing higher demand and improved economics.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Kurt Hallead in a research note said the deal doubles Schlumberger's hydraulic fracturing fleet and allows it to avoid a potential payout to acquire the rest of OneStim. Weatherford gets most of the cash it would have received under the original agreement, but gives up recurring income from the joint venture, he wrote.

-=Weatherford (WFT) reported earnings on Wed 1 Nov 2017 (b/o)

Weatherford beats by $0.03, misses on revs 

• Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.22 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.25); revenues rose 7.1% year/year to $1.46 bln vs the $1.49 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• 'Our highest priority is free cash flow generation. To that end, we have initiated a substantial transformation program targeting improvements in our operating results of approximately $1 billion. We are driving this plan on a timeline to achieve these savings over the next 18-24 months. Specific actions to achieve $300 million in cost savings are already underway',
• Target of break-even free cash flow excluding restructuring and legal settlements in the fourth quarter. 

=Weatherford International (WFT) appoints a new CEO

• WFT appoints Mark McCollum as President and Chief Executive Officer (former Halliburton Company chief financial officer) with an effective start date in late April 2017)

Bought WFT @ 16.05

Weatherford International Ltd. (Weatherford) is a provider of equipment and services used in the drilling, evaluation, completion, production and intervention of oil and natural gas wells. It conducts operations in approximately 100 countries and has service and sales locations in the oil and natural gas producing regions in the world. The Company's product offerings are grouped into ten service lines: drilling services; artificial lift systems; well construction; completion systems; integrated drilling; drilling tools, re-entry and fishing; stimulation and chemicals services; wireline and evaluation services, and pipeline and specialty services. Its geographic reporting segments include North America, Latin America, Europe/West Africa/ the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and Middle East/North Africa/Asia. In July 2009, the Company acquired the Oilfield Services Division (OFS) of TNK-BP.

Company Contact

Headquarters:4-6 Rue Jean-Francois Bartholoni 1204 Geneva