Halliburton Company HAL is set to report first-quarter 2016 results on Apr 25, before the opening bell. Last quarter, the company posted a positive earnings surprise of 29.17%. In fact, the company has a positive four-quarter average earnings surprise of 28.80%. Let's see what is in store this quarter. Factors to Consider Houston, TX-based Halliburton is a global oilfield service provider, offering a variety of equipment, maintenance, and engineering and construction services to the energy, industrial, and government sectors. Oil field service players primarily support upstream companies that include drilling firms setting up their oil and gas wells.The overall operation is positively correlated with oil price. This is because, lower the price of the commodity, there will be fewer incentives for the upstream players to explore and drill more wells and hence weaker will be the demand for oil field services firms.During the first quarter, most of the times, crude traded below $40 per barrel. Most importantly, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell to the 12-year low mark in mid February. Overall, the pricing environment is not favorable for upstream operations or oilfield service players. All these events might make the oilfield service player’s prediction of lower sequential revenues from its North American operations come true.Earnings Whispers?Our proven model does not conclusively show that Halliburton Company is likely to beat on earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESPand a Zacks Rank #1, 2 or 3 for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.Zacks ESP: The company’s Earnings ESP is 0.00%. This is because both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate stand at 5 cents.Zacks Rank: Halliburton has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Though a favorable Zacks Rank increases the predictive power of ESP, the company’s ESP of 0.00% makes surprise prediction difficult.We caution against stocks with Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.Stocks to ConsiderHere are some companies in the energy sector that investors may consider as they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:Chesapeake Energy Corporation CHK with an Earnings ESP of +30.77% and a Zacks Rank #2. Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. DO has an Earnings ESP of +14.82% and a Zacks Rank #2.Marathon Oil Corporation MRO with an Earnings ESP of +4.55% and a Zacks Rank #2.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report HALLIBURTON CO (HAL): Free Stock Analysis Report DIAMOND OFFSHOR (DO): Free Stock Analysis Report CHESAPEAKE ENGY (CHK): Free Stock Analysis Report MARATHON OIL CP (MRO): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research