NEW YORK, Oct 26 (Reuters) - National Oilwell Varco Inc , a U.S. oilfield equipment and services company, reported a 30 percent drop in quarterly profit on Monday as drilling activity declined with oil and gas prices, but results topped Wall Street forecasts.
Third-quarter net profit fell to $385 million, or 92 cents per share, from $548 million, or $1.31 per share, in the same period a year ago.
Excluding restructuring and transaction charges, earnings per share were 95 cents, topping the 92 cents that analysts had forecast, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue fell 15 percent to $3.09 billion, beating the $2.9 billion that analysts had expected.
Shares of National Oilwell, which last month formed a drilling measurement and communications joint venture with Schlumberger Ltd, slipped 2 percent to $45.90 in premarket trade.
As of Friday's close, those share are up 92 percent in 2009, compared with a 69 percent rise for the Philadelphia oil service index.

(Reporting by Matt Daily and Braden Reddall in San Francisco, editing by Dave Zimmerman) Keywords: NATIONALOILWELL/ (braden.reddall@thomsonreuters.com; +1 415 677 2543; braden.reddall.reuters.com@reuters.net)

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