Jul. 8 at 8:50 PM
Wolfe Research initiated coverage of three major oilfield services companies, assigning Outperform ratings to SLB and Baker Hughes, while starting Halliburton at Peer Perform. Analyst Carlos Escalante said the sector is entering "a selective capital cycle" that favors companies with greater international exposure.
SLB received a
$62 price target, with Wolfe citing its ChampionX integration and rapidly growing digital and data center businesses as key growth drivers. The firm also argued SLB's mid-cycle 8x EV/EBITDA valuation is an unjustified discount to peers trading closer to 9x.
Baker Hughes earned the firm's most bullish view with a
$70 price target, as Wolfe expects its free cash flow potential to be increasingly recognized. The pending
$13.6 billion acquisition of Chart Industries is seen as a major catalyst that would further diversify revenue into LNG, power, data centers, and industrial decarbonization.
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