Halliburton (HAL) Competitors

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) and Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) are both large-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, valuation, earnings, dividends, risk, media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in SLB or HAL?

Halliburton received 214 more outperform votes than Schlumberger when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 80.50% of users gave Halliburton an outperform vote while only 76.76% of users gave Schlumberger an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Schlumberger	Outperform Votes 1731 76.76%	Underperform Votes 524 23.24%
Halliburton	Outperform Votes 1945 80.50%	Underperform Votes 471 19.50%

Do analysts prefer SLB or HAL?

Schlumberger currently has a consensus target price of $55.81, suggesting a potential upside of 33.63%. Halliburton has a consensus target price of $37.42, suggesting a potential upside of 42.53%. Given Halliburton's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Halliburton is more favorable than Schlumberger.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Schlumberger	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.82
Halliburton	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.70

Is SLB or HAL more profitable?

Schlumberger has a net margin of 12.29% compared to Halliburton's net margin of 10.90%. Halliburton's return on equity of 26.03% beat Schlumberger's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Schlumberger	12.29%	21.90%	9.98%
Halliburton	10.90%	26.03%	10.50%

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in SLB or HAL?

82.0% of Schlumberger shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.2% of Halliburton shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Schlumberger shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Halliburton shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is SLB or HAL a better dividend stock?

Schlumberger pays an annual dividend of $1.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Halliburton pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Schlumberger pays out 36.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Halliburton pays out 24.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Does the media refer more to SLB or HAL?

In the previous week, Schlumberger and Schlumberger both had 30 articles in the media. Schlumberger's average media sentiment score of 1.29 beat Halliburton's score of 0.75 indicating that Schlumberger is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Schlumberger	27 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Halliburton	18 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, SLB or HAL?

Schlumberger has higher revenue and earnings than Halliburton. Halliburton is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Schlumberger, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Schlumberger	$36.29B	1.61	$4.46B	$3.11	13.43
Halliburton	$22.94B	0.99	$2.50B	$2.83	9.28

Which has more volatility and risk, SLB or HAL?

Schlumberger has a beta of 1.51, meaning that its share price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Halliburton has a beta of 1.89, meaning that its share price is 89% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Schlumberger beats Halliburton on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.