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Strength Seen in Halliburton (HAL): Can Its 7.8% Jump Turn into More Strength?

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Halliburton (HAL - Free Report) shares ended the last trading session 7.8% higher at $34.10. The jump came on an impressive volume with a higher-than-average number of shares changing hands in the session. This compares to the stock's 18.6% loss over the past four weeks.

Halliburton ended sharply higher on the last trading day, driven by optimism over oil prices spurred by the surprise production cut from OPEC. The rally in commodity prices to around $80 a barrel is set to push drilling activity higher and contributed to the strength in the company, which is one of the largest oilfield service providers in the world.

This provider of drilling services to oil and gas operators is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.67 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +91.4%. Revenues are expected to be $5.5 billion, up 28.4% from the year-ago quarter.

Earnings and revenue growth expectations certainly give a good sense of the potential strength in a stock, but empirical research shows that trends in earnings estimate revisions are strongly correlated with near-term stock price movements.

For Halliburton, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised marginally higher over the last 30 days to the current level. And a positive trend in earnings estimate revision usually translates into price appreciation. So, make sure to keep an eye on HAL going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>

Halliburton is a member of the Zacks Oil and Gas - Field Services industry. One other stock in the same industry, Helix Energy (HLX - Free Report) , finished the last trading session 4.1% higher at $8.06. HLX has returned -11.3% over the past month.

For Helix Energy, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -133.3% over the past month to $0. This represents a change of +100% from what the company reported a year ago. Helix Energy currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).


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