The oil price massacre, which started to rattle the investment world in the second half of 2014 and has been unsettling it occasionally since then, always keep oil service companies’ earnings on high alert. These help oil investors to take future calls on energy stocks.

This is especially true given the latest talks of OPEC curbing the production limit in the November meeting and a 9.9% jump in WTI crude ETF United States Oil (USO- Free Report) and an 8.1% advancement in Brent crude ETF United States Brent Oil (BNO – Free Report) in the last one month (as of October 20, 2016).

Amid these circumstances, let’s delve a little deeper into the oilfield services earnings and see how things are shaping up for the space.

Results in Detail

Halliburton (HAL – Free Report) – the second largest oil service company – came up with a mixed Q3 on October 19, 2016 wherein earnings of $0.01 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.07. Revenues of $3.833 billion missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.897 billion amid the oil price slump.

Shares were up 4.3% in the key trading session following the declaration of results. Halliburton indicated that the current industry uptrend would boost rig count further. Halliburton reported 9% sequential growth in North American sales that was mostly pared down by a 6% sequential decline in international revenue. HAL has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

On October 20 after the closing bell, Schlumberger (SLB – Free Report) – the world’s largest oilfield services provider – came up with a mixed Q3. Adjusted earnings came in at $0.25 per share, which edged past the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.22. However, earnings fell 68% from the year-ago level.

The total revenue of $7.019 billion declined 17% year over year and fell shy of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $7.130 billion. However, the company sounded hopeful on the future movement of oil prices as it indicated that “the supply and demand of crude is now more or less balanced” in the global oil market.