Baker Hughes Q4 Results Highlight Tough Year For Oil

Baker Hughes Incorporated BHI reported fourth-quarter results, capping off a tough year for the oil industry with big hits to revenue and reporting losses per share.

Despite a challenging 2015 and reporting worse-than-expected quarterly top and bottom lines, shares were up 3.6 percent Thursday morning.

Fourth-quarter revenue stood at $3.46 billion, down $3.2 billion from the same quarter last year. Adjusted net loss for the fourth quarter came to $0.21 a share.

Analysts were expecting a loss of $0.10 per share and $3.47 billion in revenue for the quarter.

The company posted 2015 revenues of $15.76 billion, down 37 percent from 2014's $24.66 billion figure.

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Baker Hughes reported GAAP loss per share of $4.49 for the year, down from a $3.92 earnings per share in 2014. On an adjusted basis, net loss stood at $0.48 per share, turning negative after reporting a profit of $4.22 per share last year.

Wall Street expected loss per share of $0.37 and $15.83 billion in revenue.

"Our 2015 results are reflective of an extremely difficult and increasingly challenging year for the industry," said Baker Hughes Chairman and CEO Martin Craighead.

What About Peers?

Among the big three oil and gas exploration and production companies, it seems that Baker Hughes had the toughest year, at least in terms of sales.

Schlumberger Limited SLB the largest oil company, posted a 27 percent revenue decline in 2015, down to $35.47 billion from $48.58 billion in 2014.

Halliburton Company HAL, the second-largest oil-field services company, reported a 28 percent revenue decline in 2015 of $23.6 billion, down from 2014's figure of $32.8 billion.

Craighead was quiet on Baker Hughes' pending merger with Halliburton, saying he was "pleased" with the company's part in the regulatory process and that "we are fully dedicated to closing the merger as early as possible."