Shares of Schlumberger Ltd. SLB, +3.95% rallied 0.9% in premarket trading Friday, after the oil services company reported third-quarter profit and revenue that beat expectations, with growth led by its well construction and production systems businesses as global activity strengthened. “The quarter was also supported by continued backlog conversion, strong technology adoption, and the growing effects of pricing improvements,” said Chief Executive Olivier Le Peuch. Net income rose to $907 million, or 63 cents a share, from $550 million, or 39 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of 63 cents topped the FactSet consensus of 55 cents. Revenue jumped 27.9% to $7.48 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $7.11 billion. Well Construction revenue increased 36% to $3.08 billion, beating the FactSet consensus of $2.82 billion, and Production Systems revenue rose 28% to $2.15 billion to top forecasts of $2.02 billion. Free cash flow was $1.1 billion, in line with expectations. The stock has soared 35.9% over the past three months through Thursday, while the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF XLE, +1.03% has climbed 17.8% and the S&P 500 SPX, -0.21% has lost 8.3%.
