Halliburton vs SLB Q3 2026: Same 2% Growth, Opposite North America Stories

Halliburton and SLB (formerly Schlumberger) are the two largest oilfield-services companies. Oil and gas producers hire them to drill wells, fracture and complete them, and keep them flowing. They bid against each other for the same contracts from Texas to Saudi Arabia. In Q3 2026 both grew revenue about 2% once SLB's ChampionX acquisition is set aside, and both made a little less underlying profit than a year earlier. The geography was where they differed. Halliburton's North America business shrank while its international business grew. At SLB it was the other way round, because the Middle East, its most important market, is still recovering from this year's regional conflict.

At a glance

• North America revenue: −8.6% at Halliburton, +13% at SLB (excluding ChampionX). Both companies sold into the same US market, where US Land rigs were up about 10% (577 vs 526, per Halliburton's 10-Q). Halliburton's fracking work fell. SLB grew on chemicals, artificial lift, valves and data-center equipment.
• International revenue: +9.5% at Halliburton, flat at SLB (excluding ChampionX). SLB earns about $1.9 billion a quarter in the Middle East, and that revenue was still 12% below a year ago. Halliburton's international growth came from Latin America (+12.7%) and Europe/Africa/CIS (+22.7%).
• Adjusted EPS: +3.4% at Halliburton, −7% at SLB, but underlying profit fell at both. Halliburton's gain came from a lower tax rate and 2% fewer shares; its adjusted pre-tax profit fell about 2%. SLB had no buyback or tax help: its share count was slightly higher than a year ago and its tax rate excluding charges was a steady 20%.

Side by side

¹ Our arithmetic from figures in our two reports. Halliburton's segment margin is its $848 million of segment operating income ($862 million a year ago) divided by revenue; SLB's is its own "pretax segment operating margin." Both measure the profit the business divisions keep before interest, tax and company-wide costs, so this is the closest like-for-like margin. Operating margin in general means the share of revenue left after running the business, before interest and tax. SLB does not report a GAAP operating margin. "Adjusted" figures are each company's own non-GAAP measures, which leave out items the company treats as one-offs. SLB's EPS is not directly comparable with Halliburton's because SLB has about 1.8 times as many shares; compare growth rates instead.

Same US market, opposite results

The biggest gap between the two quarters is in North America. Halliburton's 10-Q puts its $204 million North America decline on "lower stimulation activity in the region" and on the sale of part of its chemicals business. Stimulation means hydraulic fracturing (fracking): pumping fluid at high pressure to crack the rock so oil and gas can flow. Halliburton's drilling-related work in North America grew. Its fracking work, the bigger business, did not, and management says it is "focused on reducing exposure to commoditized activity." In plain terms, it is turning down lower-priced fracking jobs.

SLB's North America growth came from other products. Its release credits U.S. land chemicals, artificial lift (pumps that lift oil out of wells that no longer flow on their own) and valves, plus Data Center Solutions and the return of Canada after the spring thaw. Much of that product range came with ChampionX, which SLB bought in July 2025, and even without the acquisition SLB's North America revenue grew 13%. Part of SLB's North America growth is therefore not oilfield work at all: Data Center Solutions, which builds modular infrastructure for data centres, had $230 million of revenue company-wide (+76%).

The divisions tell the same story. Halliburton's Completion and Production segment, where fracking sits, lost 4.2% of revenue and 11.1% of operating income. SLB's Production Systems, which sells equipment and chemicals that keep existing wells flowing, grew 15% (5% excluding ChampionX) on subsea equipment, valves and completions. This quarter, the products that keep existing wells producing grew while fracking shrank, and SLB sells more of the first.

Abroad, the Middle East decided the gap

Outside North America the positions reverse. Halliburton's international revenue rose 9.5% while the international rig count rose only 3%, which our Halliburton report read as share gains or more services per rig. Europe/Africa/CIS (Norway, Nigeria, Angola) grew 22.7% and Latin America (Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador) 12.7%. Its Middle East/Asia region was flat year on year after an 8% rebound from Q2.

SLB grew faster than Halliburton in Latin America (+18%, on offshore Brazil, Guyana and Mexico), but its international total was flat excluding ChampionX because the Middle East is a much bigger share of its business. About $1.9 billion of SLB's quarter, roughly a fifth of revenue, came from the Middle East, and that was still 12% below a year ago despite a 13% rebound from Q2. The Middle East is also where SLB earns its best drilling margins. Its two drilling-linked divisions, Well Construction and Reservoir Performance, were each 3% smaller than a year ago, with margins more than 2 points lower. Halliburton's drilling segment did the opposite, growing 10% with its margin up to 15.0% from 14.6%, mainly on Latin America work.

Both companies say the region is recovering, and both add a caution. Halliburton's 10-Q says "the pace and breadth of that recovery remain uncertain." SLB reported "renewed disruptions during the final weeks of the quarter" in some countries. SLB has more riding on that recovery.

What the headline numbers hide

Halliburton's reported EPS flatters the quarter. GAAP EPS rose from $0.02 to $0.50 because last year's Q3 carried $392 million of pre-tax charges and a $125 million tax charge, which pushed that quarter's tax rate to 90.9%. On adjusted figures, EPS rose $0.02, and our report traced that to a lower tax rate (worth about $0.02) and 2.1% fewer shares after buybacks. Adjusted pre-tax profit fell about 2% ($620 million vs $634 million), and adjusted net income rose just 1%.

SLB's reported EPS understates the quarter, but its adjusted figure is the honest one. GAAP EPS of $0.49 included a $187 million non-cash pension settlement charge ($0.12 a share) with no tax benefit. Without it, EPS would have been about $0.61. The more telling number is adjusted EPS, down 7%, and adjusted net income, down 6%. Buybacks did not help this comparison: the shares SLB issued for ChampionX were outstanding for only part of last year's quarter, so the average share count was slightly higher. SLB's other recurring cost is ChampionX integration, $165 million so far in 2026, which the company excludes from its adjusted figures.

So the reported headlines point in opposite directions (+2,400% and −2%), while underlying profit fell at both: about −2% at Halliburton before tax and −6% at SLB after tax. Halliburton's is the smaller decline.

Cash: SLB converted profit to cash better, Halliburton paid out less. SLB's Q3 operating cash flow was nearly twice its net income. Halliburton's was below its net income, as working capital (the cash tied up in receivables and inventory) absorbed $330 million in the quarter. Over nine months the two companies' balance sheets show the same pattern: receivables up about 12% and inventory about 10% since December, both faster than sales. Halliburton's 10-Q partly explains its build: a larger share of receivables is owed by its main customer in Mexico, which has been paying late. SLB's release gives no explanation; its 10-Q, not yet filed when we wrote our report, should.

Both companies paid shareholders more than they generated this year. Halliburton's year-to-date buybacks and dividends were about 104% of free cash flow (the cash left after capital spending), and the gap came out of its cash balance, which fell $205 million in the quarter to $1,843 million. SLB's year-to-date payouts were about twice its free cash flow ($3.06 billion vs $1.52 billion), and the gap was borrowed: net debt rose from $7.42 billion in December to $9.25 billion, before the pending $3.4 billion cash purchase of Kelvion, which brings $0.7 billion of debt with it.

Takeaway: Both companies grew about 2% like for like, and both made less underlying profit than a year ago. The difference is where each is exposed. Halliburton's weakness is US fracking, which it is choosing to shrink, while its international work grows faster than rigs. SLB's weakness is the Middle East, its highest-margin market, which is coming back but was still 12% below last year. Halliburton's 2027 plan does not rely on its weak spot recovering. SLB's outlook does rely on the Middle East, and SLB is funding buybacks with debt while it waits.

What to watch next

• Halliburton: whether North America revenue stops falling from quarter to quarter, and whether operating cash flow catches up with net income in Q4, when capital spending is due to rise to about $400 million to meet the $1.1 billion full-year plan. Management's 2027 target is "mid-single digit revenue growth and operating margins of about 15%," about 2 points above this year's nine-month 12.4%, and it assumes a flat North America. Its SAP software migration, $42 million this quarter, ends in Q4, after about $34 million more. Watch also how much of Mexico's receivables get collected.
• SLB: Middle East revenue against Q3's roughly $1.9 billion, after the late-quarter disruptions; whether Well Construction and Reservoir Performance margins keep recovering; Data Center Solutions reaching about $250 million in Q4, the rate management's $1 billion year-end run-rate target needs; and full-year free cash flow against payouts as Kelvion approaches its expected first-half 2027 close. SLB gives no numeric revenue or earnings guidance; capital investment stays at about $2.5 billion for 2026. Its Q3 10-Q, which we estimate for around October 30, should explain the receivables build and say whether drilling pricing is still a headwind.
• Both: Venezuela. Halliburton "re-established our operations" there in Q3, and SLB's CEO cited "significant activity increases in Venezuela" for 2027.

Sources: figures are from our published analyses, Halliburton Q3 2026 (from Halliburton's Form 10-Q filed October 23, 2026, and its October 20 earnings release) and SLB Q3 2026 (from SLB's October 23, 2026 earnings release; its 10-Q was not yet filed).