Halliburton released preannounced in-line first-quarter revenue on Friday, but Robert W. Baird is concerned that its deal with Baker Hughes could be dead.
Analyst Daniel Leben reiterated a Neutral rating and $38 price target on Halliburton Monday, wirting that while the company didn’t explicitly state that the deal was off, Halliburton’s decision to delay its conference call and its move away from maintaining greater-than-required operational capacity “serve as signs the BHI deal will break after April 30.”
Halliburton said it will hold its conference call on May 3, three days after the expiration of the merger agreement with Baker Hughes.
Leben writes that he expects Halliburton “to remain acquisitive although we do not expect anything in the near term as HAL progresses through additional restructuring procedures before transitioning to new potential targets.”
He writes that his estimates are now biased higher “due to removal of prior carrying costs related to the BHI merger, although partially offset by lowered outlook trajectory.”
Halliburton was up 0.4% in morning trading Monday.