S&P Cuts Weatherford Outlook To 'Negative'

NEW YORK (AP) — Ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut its outlook for Weatherford International Ltd. on Tuesday, a day after the company reported a 79 percent drop in its third-quarter profit, missing analyst expectations.

The Switzerland-based oil and gas services provider on Monday said weakened demand for North American drilling hurt quarterly earnings, but an uptick in international revenue partly offset the damage.

Weatherford reported a profit of $77.4 million, or 11 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predicted income of 13 cents per share.

Standard & Poor's cut its outlook for the company to "Negative" from "Stable" and affirmed the "BBB+" corporate credit rating.

"The outlook revision reflects Weatherford's continued deterioration of its credit measures and our expectations that near-term performance will likely remain weak," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Aniki Saha-Yannopoulos.

Saha-Yannopoulos added that pricing pressures and project delays have hurt Weatherford as exploration and production companies have tightened their capital spending plans.

Commenting on the company's investment-grade rating of "BBB+," Saha-Yannopoulos said the rating reflects the company's "strong competitive position, broad oilfield product and services offerings, good geographic diversification and limited near-term debt maturities."

Shares of Weatherford fell 1 cent to $19.91 in afternoon trading.