Plunging: BJ Services misses Wall Street estimates with loss.
BJ falls to loss for quarter
US frac giant BJ Services posted an unexpected quarterly loss as revenue fell 34%, but reported generally stable to slightly improved pricing in North America for its key oilfield pressure-pumping operation.
The company is in the process of being taken over by US services giant Baker Hughes, which still expects to close the $6 billion deal this quarter.
For its fiscal first quarter ending in December, Houston-based BJ Services reported a loss from continuing operations of $8.4 million, or 3 cents per share, as revenue fell 34% to $931.5 million, according to a Reuters report.
Analysts on average had been looking for a profit of 4 cents per share on revenue of $898 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The takeover of BJ Services will mark a return to its previous owner.
Founded by Byron Jackson in California in the 1870s, BJ ended up as part of Baker Hughes through a series of deals a century later, before being spun out in 1990.