HOUSTON (AP) _ Halliburton Co. (HAL) on Wednesday reported first-quarter net income of $170 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.

The Houston-based company said it had net income of 19 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 17 cents per share.

The provider of drilling services to oil and gas operators posted revenue of $3.45 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.37 billion.

Halliburton shares have increased roughly 5% since the beginning of the year. The stock has more than doubled in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on HAL at https://www.zacks.com/ap/HAL

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