Halliburton (HAL) Competitors

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

Which has more volatility and risk, HAL or SLB?

Halliburton has a beta of 1.91, indicating that its stock price is 91% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Schlumberger has a beta of 1.52, indicating that its stock price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is HAL or SLB a better dividend stock?

Halliburton pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Schlumberger pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Halliburton pays out 23.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Schlumberger pays out 35.4% 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.

Do analysts prefer HAL or SLB?

Halliburton currently has a consensus price target of $38.26, suggesting a potential upside of 27.73%. Schlumberger has a consensus price target of $56.03, suggesting a potential upside of 28.57%. Given Schlumberger's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Schlumberger is more favorable than Halliburton.

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

Is HAL or SLB more profitable?

Schlumberger has a net margin of 12.44% compared to Halliburton's net margin of 11.04%. Halliburton's return on equity of 28.33% beat Schlumberger's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Halliburton	11.04%	28.33%	11.21%
Schlumberger	12.44%	21.84%	9.89%

Does the media refer more to HAL or SLB?

In the previous week, Schlumberger had 36 more articles in the media than Halliburton. MarketBeat recorded 64 mentions for Schlumberger and 28 mentions for Halliburton. Schlumberger's average media sentiment score of 0.78 beat Halliburton's score of 0.47 indicating that Schlumberger is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Halliburton	13 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Schlumberger	32 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	16 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of HAL or SLB?

85.2% of Halliburton shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.0% of Schlumberger shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Halliburton shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Schlumberger shares are owned 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HAL or SLB?

Halliburton received 216 more outperform votes than Schlumberger when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 80.56% of users gave Halliburton an outperform vote while only 76.72% of users gave Schlumberger an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Halliburton	Outperform Votes 1943 80.56%	Underperform Votes 469 19.44%
Schlumberger	Outperform Votes 1727 76.72%	Underperform Votes 524 23.28%

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, HAL or SLB?

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
Halliburton	$23.02B	1.14	$2.64B	$2.87	10.44
Schlumberger	$33.14B	1.86	$4.20B	$3.11	14.01

Summary

Schlumberger beats Halliburton on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.