Halliburton Company Stock Hold Recommendation Reiterated (HAL)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) has been reiterated by TheStreet Ratings as a hold with a ratings score of C+ . The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and notable return on equity. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including unimpressive growth in net income, poor profit margins and weak operating cash flow.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• HAL's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 12.9%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues rose by 21.9%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displaying stagnant earnings per share.
• The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.33, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. To add to this, HAL has a quick ratio of 1.78, which demonstrates the ability of the company to cover short-term liquidity needs.
• HALLIBURTON CO reported flat earnings per share in the most recent quarter. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, HALLIBURTON CO increased its bottom line by earning $3.26 versus $1.96 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($3.30 versus $3.26).
• The gross profit margin for HALLIBURTON CO is rather low; currently it is at 23.10%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of 10.20% trails that of the industry average.
• Net operating cash flow has significantly decreased to $401.00 million or 51.27% when compared to the same quarter last year. In conjunction, when comparing current results to the industry average, HALLIBURTON CO has marginally lower results.

Halliburton Company provides various products and services to the energy industry for exploring, developing, and producing oil and natural gas worldwide. It operates in two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. The company has a P/E ratio of 9.9, below the average energy industry P/E ratio of 10.5and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Halliburton has a market cap of $31 billion and is part of the basic materials sector and energy industry. Shares are down 4.8% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

You can view the full Halliburton Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

--Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff.

TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

For more information on Halliburton Company click any of the following:

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• Halliburton Company Income Statement