Cameron Beats Street, Raises Outlook, Spikes

HOUSTON (TheStreet) -- As members of the oil services industry continue to wrestle a host of harsh realities -- declining rig counts in the U.S. and pricing pressure on commodities, to name a few -- Cameron International(CAM Quote) managed to beat second-quarter forecasts.

The company's net income fell to $138.6 million, or 62 cents per share. In the year-ago quarter, Cameron posted $148.8 million in profit, or 64 cents per share.

After excluding a 3-cent severance charge and a 5-cent tax gain, its earnings would have come to 60 cents per share.

The results in the quarter bettered estimates from a group of analysts' polled by Thomson Reuters, who pegged the company to report a 47-cent per share profit.

Total sales fell by 14% to $1.27 billion, again bettering forecasts set at $1.22 billion.

Cameron, which manufactures a host of oilfield equipment, also said total orders were slashed in half from last year, coming to $901.8 million in the second quarter. The company was quick to note, however, that total orders were only down "modestly" from the first quarter.

"Factors affecting orders include the lack of large subsea orders in DPS, continued delays in large project orders in V&M and the impact of weak global economies on Compression Systems' centrifugal markets," CEO Jack Moore said in a press release. "We expect the second half of the year to be more active in terms of subsea awards, and we hope to see some pickup in orders in certain valve- and compression-related markets."