Patterson-UTI: 1Q Earnings Snapshot

HOUSTON (AP) _ Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (PTEN) on Thursday reported a loss of $28.6 million in its first quarter.

On a per-share basis, the Houston-based company said it had a loss of 14 cents.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 21 cents per share.

The provider of onshore contract drilling services posted revenue of $704.2 million in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $697.1 million.

Patterson-UTI shares have climbed 46 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has dropped 23 percent in the last 12 months.

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