Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) reported Q2 EPS of $0.91, in-line with the analyst estimate of $0.91. Revenue for the quarter came in at $8.1 billion versus the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion.

Separatly, Halliburton's board of directors also increased the authorization to purchase Halliburton common stock to a total of $6.0 billion

“I am very pleased with Halliburton’s second quarter results and continue to be very excited about the momentum of our business for the rest of the year and beyond. Once again, we delivered industry-leading revenue growth both sequentially and year over year compared to our primary peers,” commented Dave Lesar, chairman, president and chief executive officer.

“In North America, second quarter revenue increased 11% and operating income was up 31% compared to the first quarter of 2014, outpacing a 4% increase in the United States land rig count. Service intensity levels continued to expand, as completion volumes per well were up more than 35% compared to the second quarter of last year.

“We expect North America activity levels to continue to improve, with margins approaching 20% in the third quarter. We have concluded based on the strength of this outlook that we will immediately accelerate additions to our hydraulic fracturing fleet and logistics capabilities, with new crews available for service beginning later this year.

“In the Eastern Hemisphere, we are successfully executing our growth strategy. Relative to the first quarter of 2014, we grew Eastern Hemisphere revenue by 9% and operating income by 26%. We continue to forecast full-year Eastern Hemisphere revenue growth in the low double digits, with average full year margins in the upper teens.

“In the Middle East/Asia region, revenue increased 11% and operating income increased 25% sequentially. Saudi Arabia continued to lead the growth, and we expect this region to have the highest growth rate for the full-year 2014, despite the potential for activity disruptions or project delays in Iraq later this year.

“In Europe/Africa/CIS, sequential revenue and operating income increased 6% and 27%, respectively. The growth resulted from seasonal recovery in the North Sea and in Russia, as well as activity gains in sub-Saharan Africa.

“In Latin America, revenue increased 4% sequentially, while operating income declined 39%. While we are very encouraged about the prospects for Energy Reform in Mexico, the land rig count was near historic low levels during the second quarter. Our results for the second quarter of 2014 were also negatively impacted by the late receipt of our blanket order for consulting and project management work, which impacted our ability to book revenue and offset costs. In addition, margins were impacted by mobilization costs for our integrated projects in Mexico. Both of these issues are expected to turn around in the second half of the year. We believe full year Latin America margins should improve sufficiently to be in line with 2013 assuming the timely approval of our billings under the blanket order in Mexico, as well as a swift resolution of the retender of our Brazil drilling contract.

“Our strategy is working well and we intend to stay the course. We see strong, sustainable growth opportunities across the mature field, deepwater and unconventional markets. We continue to be excited about the North America market, and although there may be near-term choppiness in certain international markets, we see a strong pipeline of opportunities.

“Our recent strong financial performance has enabled us to increase our shareholder distributions while maintaining robust liquidity to fund future growth. Our board recently approved an additional $4.8 billion in stock repurchase authorization, to a new total repurchase capacity of $6 billion. This reflects our confidence in the strength of our long-term business outlook, our commitment to shareholder distributions, and our focus on delivering best-in-class returns,” concluded Lesar.

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