Baker Hughes beats by $0.01, beats on revs (35.82)
Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.15 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.14; revenues fell 2.7% year/year to $5.76 bln vs the $5.6 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Compared to the same quarter last year, revenue was down 3%. All segments grew revenue sequentially despite a declining rig count within the quarter. Year-over-year, the shorter cycle businesses grew, as Oilfield Services was up 10% and Digital Solutions was up 4%. The growth in the shorter cycle businesses was offset by a decrease in the longer cycle businesses as Oilfield Equipment declined 21% and Turbomachinery & Process Solutions declined 14% year-over-year.
Orders for the quarter were $5,757 million, up 1% sequentially and down 2% year-over-year. This sequential increase was driven by service orders, which were up 2%, and partially offset by equipment orders, which were down 1%. The 2% year-over-year decline was mainly driven by a 5% decrease in service orders partially offset by a 3% increase in equipment orders. The Company's total book-to-bill ratio in the fourth quarter was 1.0; equipment book-to-bill ratio in the fourth quarter was 0.9. Backlog grew in the fourth quarter, which ended at $21.0 billion, an increase of $0.1 billion or 1% from the third quarter of 2017. Equipment backlog was $5.4 billion, down $0.3 billion, or 6%, sequentially. Services backlog was $15.7 billion, up $0.5 billion, or 3%, sequentially.
"Overall, we continue to see improvement in activity as early indications of customer capital spending in 2018 are encouraging, particularly for our shorter cycle businesses. International activity is stabilizing, and we are seeing signs of activity increase both in the volume and size of tenders for new work as customers feel more confident about their operating costs and commodity price stability. The subsea market continues to be challenging and activity remains low, with prices continuing to be pressured. We expect activity in the LNG space to increase as customers position to make new capacity available in 2022 and beyond.