SLB and HAL see better times ahead - Jan 24

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'Increased confidence': Schlumberger bullish on multi-year surge for oilfield services.
The oilfield services industry is on the verge of experiencing a “strong multi-year upcycle,” Schlumberger chief executive officer Olivier Le Peuch said during the company’s fourth quarter 2021 earnings call Friday. Le Peuch said a combination of oil and gas demand growth that should surpass the pre-Covid peak, tight supplies and declining inventories have already led to an increase in planned capital spending by producers in 2022. “Looking ahead, we have increased confidence in our view of robust, multi-year market growth,” he said.

Halliburton doubles quarterly profit raises dividend as oil rebounds. Reuters.
Halliburton Co's (HAL.N) fourth quarter adjusted profit doubled from a year earlier, it said on Monday, beating analysts' forecasts and prompting the oilfield services company to lift its dividend following a rebound in crude and natural gas prices. U.S. oil prices rose more than 50% last year and have made a strong start to 2022, hovering around $85 a barrel, thanks to the global economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and supply cuts by producer group OPEC. That has encouraged producers to ramp up drilling activity, with the U.S. rig count rising 68% year-over-year to 586 at the end of the fourth quarter, according to Baker Hughes data. < Active rig count is still less than half of where it was in 2014.

[dan_s]

Note from Stifel

Schlumberger N.V. (SLB, $36.36, Buy; Target $44.00)
Margin Progress and Strong FCF Continue; Maintain Buy and Bumping Target Price to $44 - Stephen Gengaro
SLB delivered modestly better-than-expected results, highlighted by solid revenue growth, strong margin performance, and robust FCF generation. Based on our positive outlook that was supported by management's commentary, we are projecting double-digit revenue growth and continued margin expansion in 2022-23. We are bumping our 2022-23 EBITDA estimates to $6.2 billion and $7.5 billion from $5.92 billion and $6.98 billion, respectively, increasing our target price to $44 from $38, and maintaining our Buy.