UPDATE: Halliburton Posts Upbeat Q2 Revenue, Shares Rise

Shares of Halliburton

surged around 1.5% in pre-market trading after the company reported a gain in its second-quarter earnings. The Houston, Texas-based company's quarterly income from continuing operations rose to $776 million, or $0.91 per share, up from $642 million, or $0.69 per share in the year-ago period. Its total revenue surged to $8.1 billion, from $7.3 billion. Its operating income surged to $1.2 billion from $984 million in the year-ago quarter. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.91 per share on revenue of $7.88 billion. Completion and Production revenue rose 12% from the first quarter to $4.9 billion, while Drilling and Evaluation revenue gained 6% to $3.1 billion.. North American revenue rose 11% versus the first quarter, while in Europe/Africa/CIS l revenue surged 6%. In the Middle East/Asia region, revenue climbed 11%, while revenue in Latin America jumped 4%. Halliburton raised its share repurchase program to $6 billion versus $5 billion. Dave Lesar, chairman, president and chief executive officer said, “I am very pleased with Halliburton's second quarter results and continue to be very excited about the momentum of our business for the rest of the year and beyond. Once again, we delivered industry-leading revenue growth both sequentially and year over year compared to our primary peers.” Halliburton shares gained 1.51% to $72.00 in pre-market trading.