Oilfield services giant Halliburton Company (HAL) saw its rating and price target upgraded on Tuesday by analysts at Barclays Capital.

The firm boosted its rating on HAL to “Overweight” from “Equal Weight,” noting that better pricing and increased pressure pumping utilization should help bolster earnings results. Barclays also raised its price target to $35 from $28. That new target would represent a 36% upside from HAL’s Friday closing price of $25.74.(via Dividend.com Staff)

By Tiernan Ray
source:barrons.com
Shares of Halliburton (HAL) are up 9 cents at $26.43, after Macquarie Securities analyst Waqar Syed raised his rating on the stock to “Outperform” from “Neutral,” along with shares of Superior Well Services (SWSI), another energy services firm.

SWSI is up 44 cents, or 2.7%, at $16.79, clearly enjoying a bigger bounce from this upgrade.

Syed raised his price target on HAL to $40 from $36, and to $25 from $20 for SWSI

The key point is demand is outstripping supply for the kinds of “pressure pumping” that HAL and Superior offer to oil and gas exploration firms. “effective pressure pumping utilization is now 100%, and in some regions, equipment is working 24/7.”

“Utilization conditions are fast approaching the very frothy 2006 tightness levels, although pricing is still well below,” writes Syed.

Clients are now being wait-listed for work by Halliburton and Superior, writes Syed, by as much as four months.

source:insurancenewsnet.com
With the recent Gulf oil spill and the new government regulations expected for deepwater drilling, Goldman Sachs is bullish on land drilling, where deepwater drilling money could be reallocated towards.

Goldman Sachs is favoring diversified oil service companies and land drillers with improving fundamentals and attractive valuation. These companies include Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), Ensco (NYSE: ESV), Nabors (NYSE: NBR), Helmerich & Payne (NYSE: HP), and Bristow (NYSE: BRS), which are all buy rated. Goldman sees deepwater drillers with deteriorating fundamentals as bad investments. Atwood Oceanics (NYSE: ATW) and Diamond Drilling (NYSE: DO) are both sell rated.

source:opednews.com
B.P, Halliburton and Transocean have unleashed Armageddon and now there is no stopping it. Senator Bill Nelson has told us how bad it is.

This is our worst nightmare. The oil industry has killed the Gulf of Mexico.

My worst fears have been realized. If this link is true and the oil is coming through the sea floor, they have either blown out the formation or blown out the cement (which we know they did anyway to get the blowout to occur). I am beginning to realize why they have not wanted toclose the valves on the cap. The more theyclose it, the more oil is going to come up through the sea floor, next to the well casing. I listed 12 points in my attached article. The really big concern here is that their directional wells are now pointless. They are GUARANTEED to fail because you can not pump mud or cement into a blown out well. It just does not set with oil and gas roaring past.

Selling at Halliburton seems to be declining and may be near bottom. Despite a drop in incomes and the spill in the Gulf, the population is not cheap, even at current levels. However, the population is classified as a buy or strong buy by analysts.

THE ANALYSIS: Slorer scaled back a prediction on Halliburton losses caused by exposure to the Gulf. Slorer now expects the company's earnings to be reduced by 10 percent in 2010, 2011 and 2012 instead of a previously estimated 12 percent, 20 percent and 17 percent.

Halliburton Co. (HAL: 23.28 -0.35 -1.48%) - The sale of the call options effectively reduces the price paid per share to $22.18 each. This strategy positions the investor to accrue maximum gains of 26.23% if HAL’s shares rally above $28.00 by October expiration.

The oil well pouring a river of crude into the Gulf of Mexico didn't have the normal type of remote-control shut-off switch used in Norway and the UK as last-resort protection against underwater spills, largely because the oil companies themselves are responsible for "voluntary" compliance with safety and environmental standards.

Investors are increasingly worried about Halliburton's financial exposure to the spill. The company's credit default swaps, protecting its debt, rose 35 basis points to 157 basis points on Wednesday, more than double their level a few days before, according to Markit Intraday data.

The Bedford Report is pleased to announce that its latest Market Update analyzing recent news and events on BP PLC (NYSE: BP), Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) has been released.

Transocean's five-year credit default swaps rose by 40 percent to 352 basis points, while Halliburton's five-year swaps rose by 27 percent to 98 basis points, according to data from Markit Intraday.

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) on April 30, 2010 at $30.24. In approximately 3 weeks, Halliburton has returned 13.4% as of today's recent price of $26.18.

Halliburton is currently below its 50-day moving average of $30.85 and below its 200-day moving average of $29.30. Look for these moving averages to decline to confirm the company's downward momentum.

"This catastrophe appears to have been caused by a calamitous series of equipment and operational failures. If the largest oil and oil services companies in the world had been more careful, 11 lives might have been saved and our coastlines protected."

But Waxman immediately focused on Halliburton's cementing job as the first in a complex chain of events that ended with an explosion and fire April 20 that left 11 men missing and presumed dead and started a spill of 5,000 barrels per day that now threatens the coastlines of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

“Before, during or after the cement job, an undetected influx of hydrocarbons entered the wellbore,” Waxman said. "What this means is that there was a breach somewhere in well integrity that allowed methane gas and possibly other hydrocarbons to enter the well."