Good for our pockets, bad for Halliburton…
Anyone who drives a car regularly has noticed that gas prices have fallen pretty sharply over the past month — something that fellow Brandeis grad Thomas Friedman bemoans in his column today because lower prices are likely to have a negative impact on conservation and other habits, such as fewer SUVs on the road.
But Friedman’s not the only one. In the 10Q that it filed yesterday, Halliburton (HAL) was also pretty bummed about falling prices for oil and natural gas because of its negative impact on their business. Actually, they’re more than bummed. In the filing, Halliburton warns that the lower prices could have a material adverse impact on both revenue and profitability. Here’s a snippet:
Forecasted crude oil prices for the remainder of 2008 and for 2009 have dropped substantially in the last month…Any prolonged reduction in oil and natural gas prices will depress the immediate levels of exploration, development, and production activity. Perceptions of longer-term lower oil and natural gas prices by oil and gas companies can similarly reduce or defer major expenditures given the long-term nature of many large-scale development projects. Lower levels of activity result in a corresponding decline in the demand for our oil and natural gas well services and products, which could have a material adverse effect on our revenue and profitability.
Halliburton reported its earnings on Monday before the market opened. And while Chairman and CEO David Lesar was quoted in the press release about his concern over falling prices, it came across as being a much more serious concern in the Q.
We have a few more observations about Halliburton’s Q that will only be available to FootnotedPro subscribers. Other tickers that we’ll be posting about over there include LMT and CAL.
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Posted in Tags: 10Qs, new disclosures |
 14 Comments » |
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October 22nd, 2008 at 11:49 am
Congrats on FootnotedPro. Do you intend to work with an analyst and provide some fundamental analysis as well? Also, very few are willing to provide the time frame for which their analysis is intended…just food for thought.
Saul Sterman
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Although I know HAL is the company everyone loves to hate due to its former affiliation with KBR and Dick Cheney, I’m thinking you could have posted this comment with a similar reference to the 10Q of SLB or just about any oil services or commodity driven company. People just love to throw the tar and feathers on HAL, its just more fun I guess.
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:09 pm
@ Mike: That’s a fair criticism, but keep in mind that I didn’t set out to pick on Haliburton, but based on my screening process, noticed some interesting disclosures in their Q. I’ve taken a quick skim of SLB’s Q (filed earlier today) and have not come across similar language.
@Saul: FootnotedPro is still a work in progress, which is why I’m offering it an introductory price. People who sign up now will most likely have to deal with a few bumps along the way as we work out some of the kinks, but will hopefully benefit by being an early adapter and helping to shape a product that is the most useful. It will not be a traditional research product that looks like all the other stuff out there, but instead will be based on the things that footnoted does best: finding the hidden gems in SEC flings using our extensive screens.
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Their bill and hold accounting is pure fiction, but authorities won’t do anything about it because, well, it’s Haliburton. I recommend reading the following commentary to the PCAOB on the Treasury website: http://comments.treas.gov/_files/MenendezResponseTreasuryAdvisoryCommitteeAuditing.doc.
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Why any love for Haliburton? Are we supposed to be sorry for them?
They are war profiteers. They have made obscene profits by providing substandard services and products to our armed forces. They got no bid contracts from Cheney and live off the backs of American soldiers- over 4000 of them dead.
Its no big mystery. These people are corporate criminals.
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:50 pm
i hope this scam company burns in consumer hell! what a joke, and like all the neo-con scam companies that are feeling the heat of their choices now. halliburton workers really should be in jail. crime boss Cheaney should be in jail as well.
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Wendell totally nailed it. So the entire country is supposed to suffer paying high gas prices just so that Haliburton has high profits? The entire war was for Exxon/Haliburton. It was never about 9-11. Never was about Saddam and Bin Laden’s so called closeness. It was about greed.
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:37 am
haliburton what’s the problem? don’t have enough money yet?
lowlife scumbags…
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:58 am
You do know the difference between gasoline and natural gas, right? Not to belabor it, but they is different…
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Umm, folks…you may need to adjust the tinfoil hats a bit. HAL is an oilfield services company. KBR which trades under a separate ticker is now the object of your derision.
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Yes they should be in jail as should all the other liars involved with conspiring against the working class so they themselves can reap the benefits of our hard work, and exceed by far what we all are desperately in need of. I can’t afford to have car insurance or health insurance or even have a home without broken windows for this coming winter, yet I work 40 hrs per week! I will not rest until these scum are in their rightful place.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Mike, demeaning people by telling them to adjust their “tinfoil” hats shows you have nothing to add but insults and lack any interest in the criminal activites of BOTH companies, and spinning off KBR was nothing more than a PR move.
November 7th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
So, all Halliburton workers should be put in jail? Do you really think that is fair? I live in a town where Halliburton is the best paying job here. In fact, if Halliburton wasn’t here, the town would dry up and disappear. I also have three kids that I’m trying to raise. Do you really think that because Halliburton has this big bad reputation, that I am going to turn down a job with them? And who would suffer if I did turn down that job? Some of you folks need to get a life and get over it.
January 22nd, 2009 at 3:19 pm
i agree Lisa,
i couldnt find a single job over 8 an hour in the market right now, and im a darn good employee, and a disabled veteran, and HAL has treated me good and pays my bills, but guess the catch miss april..i work over 100 hours a week, thats how i live in ahouse with windows and have medical insurance for my children…