In Friday premarket trading, Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB, Financial) lost about 3% after reporting financial results for the fourth quarter. The company registered earnings per share of 48 cents on revenue of $8.18 billion. The company beat by 4 cents per share and $50 million in revenue.
Schlumberger Chairman and CEO Paal Kibsgaard was pleased with the 3% sequential growth in the trimester and with the pretax operating income which rose 9%. Sequential growth was fueled by strong activity in North America, Saudi Arabia and Latin America, offsetting declines in revenue in Europe, CIS and Africa.
“Among the business segments, the fourth-quarter revenue increase was led by the Production Group, which grew by 7%. Production Group performance was driven by strong international activity, with more than 20% sequential growth in Saudi Arabia, Russia and Argentina. In North America land, revenue grew 6% following the redeployment of additional pressure pumping fleets, despite a slight sequential decline in market activity.”
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG, Financial)’s stock has moved in positive territory after the analysts at Raymond James said they were more bullish on the company today, as they raised the rating to market perform, after being at underperform for more than a year. The change is based on price increases and more stabilized industry demand trends.
Further, analysts at Instinet raised to $64 the price target of Square (SQ, Financial). The target represents about 50% upside potential from its current market price. One of the reasons for the hike is that margin will expand as the company's Square Capital lending business expands.
Shares of Nike Inc. (NKE, Financial) jumped in premarket, after analysts at Wedbush upgraded the company to outperform from neutral and boosted the stock price target to $74 from $57. This gives about 13% of upside potential from its current market price.
Disclosure: The author holds no position in any stocks mentioned.
