JPMorgan analyst Sean Meakim laid out his Fall 2017 playbook for the Oil Services & Equipment space and downgraded both Precision Drilling (PDS) and Tetra Technologies (TTM) to Neutral from Overweight. The analyst removed his price targets for both names. Both stocks, despite underperforming year-to-date, have few upside catalysts, Meakim tells investors in a research note. He notes Precision is now the most levered land driller in his coverage universe and that an "M&A bailout of the whole company" is unlikely for Tetra. Meakim's top picks in the sector are TechnipFMC (FTI) and Halliburton (HAL) among large caps and Core Laboratories (CLB), MRC Global (MRC) and ProPetro Holding (PUMP) among small- and mid-caps.

Reports Q1 revenue $2.04B, consensus $1.98B. CEO Doug Pferdehirt stated, "I am very pleased with the strong performance in the quarter, which further highlights our continuing success in delivering on our commitments. Total company revenue was $2B with adjusted EBITDA of $257M when excluding foreign exchange impacts. We had a solid start to the year with total company inbound of $2.8B, driving sequential growth in backlog to $13.5B...As demonstrated by our financial performance in the quarter, operational execution across the portfolio continues at a high level, driven in part by our heightened focus on project selectivity and the favorable impact it is having on the quality of orders in our backlog. Our strong execution and robust backlog give us confidence that we can capitalize on the strong market and achieve our financial targets. We completed the sale of our Measurement Solutions business in March. In keeping with our commitment to shareholder distributions, a significant portion of the proceeds was allocated to repurchasing $150M of shares in Q1. With this acceleration in share repurchases, we now expect total shareholder distributions in 2024 to grow at least 70% when compared to 2023."

Reports Q1 revenue $528M, consensus $387.19M. CEO Kevin Neveu stated, "Precision had an impressive start to 2024 and we expect to build on this momentum throughout the year. Our Canadian drilling operations, international business, and completion and production services all outperformed during the first quarter and we more than doubled our cash from operations compared to the same period last year. We continued to focus on shareholder returns and repurchased $10 million of common shares in the first quarter. We remain firmly committed to repaying debt between $150 million and $200 million in 2024 and allocating 25% to 35% of our free cash flow to share buybacks..."

ProPetro Holding Corp. announced that the company's Board of Directors approved an increase and extension of ProPetro's share repurchase program. The program permits the repurchase of up to an additional $100M of the company's common shares for a total of $200M and extends the expiration date by one year to May 31, 2025. "We are pleased to announce the expansion of our share repurchase program, which reflects the strong support of our Board of Directors in our strategy and ability to execute," stated Sam Sledge, Chief Executive Officer. "We are confident we have the right strategy in place to benefit from our position as a sophisticated service provider. Our proven discipline and transformed, bifurcated fleet give us confidence in our strategy and earnings potential. As we continue to industrialize our business, we're creating durable and repeatable results. The industrialized model that ProPetro is implementing will continue to pay off and produce benefits for years to come. Today's expansion highlights our commitment and confidence in that strategy."

Unusual total active option classes on open include: ImmunityBio (IBRX), Halliburton (HAL), Redfin (RDFN), Nokia (NOK), Matterport (MTTR), General Motors (GM), UPS (UPS), Philip Morris (PM), PepsiCo (PEP), and General Electric (GE).

Reports Q1 revenue $5.8B, consensus $5.67B. "Halliburton delivered solid first quarter results that again demonstrated the power of our strategy and the strength of our execution. Activity in North America recovered from fourth-quarter lows, and our international business delivered its 11th consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth," commented Jeff Miller, Chairman, President and CEO. "Our customers' multi-year activity plans across markets and asset types confirms my confidence in the strength and duration of this upcycle. Halliburton demonstrated its commitment to shareholder returns in the first quarter and repurchased $250 million of common stock - a solid start to the year and a good benchmark for our expectations going forward," concluded Miller.