Buy This, Not That: The Oil Stock That’s About to Break Out

Shah Gilani|March 19, 2025

Energy prices are cyclical.

They rise and fall with economic activity.

While some think the era of fossil fuels is over, guess what…

It’s not.

Crude prices are the lowest they’ve been since 2022.

But U.S. output is the highest it’s ever been.

Energy demand is only going to increase.

So, if you believe in the long-term prospects for oil and gas, now is the time to strike.

This week, we’re pitting two storied oil and gas services companies…

Both are incredibly well-run companies.

Yet, only one has a chart worth buying.

Click the thumbnail below to check out today’s Buy This, Not That video.

Transcript

Hey everybody.

Shah Gilani here with your weekly BTNT, as in Buy This, Not That.

Thanks again, everyone, for sending in tickers.

Today, a lot of you wanted me to set up a face-off between Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) and Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB).

We are about to begin the era of drill, baby, drill.

So, oil services companies are going to be important, or at least considerations for investors.

Let’s take it from the top.

I’m going to start with Halliburton.

Halliburton is a very well-run company, and it always has been.

The market cap for Halliburton is $21.89 billion.

Revenue is $23 billion in the trailing twelve months.

The profit margin is 10.9%.

Schlumberger has slightly better numbers and is a bigger company.

Schlumberger’s market cap is $56 billion versus Halliburton’s $21.89 billion.

Revenue at Schlumberger is $36.29 billion versus $23 billion in revenue for Halliburton.

The profit margin at Schlumberger is 12.29%, while the profit margin at Halliburton is 10.9%.

So, the edge certainly goes to Schlumberger in terms of size, revenue, profit margin, and the ability to make money out of that revenue.

The companies have great balance sheets. There’s really nothing that I could point to and say, “There’s a weakness.”

They’re very similar. They also pay a similar dividend in terms of yield. It’s about 2.57%.

It’s nothing to write home about. But they’re both very similar in that respect.

There are a couple of slight differences.

One of them worth mentioning, though not of major significance, is the debt-to-equity ratio.

Here, again, Schlumberger has the edge.

The debt-to-equity for Halliburton is 83.16%.

For Schlumberger, it’s 58.16%.

So, the edge goes to Schlumberger again.

The starkest difference is in each stock’s technicals.

So, let’s pull up the charts.

First, I’m going to hit Halliburton.

That’s an ugly chart.

Halliburton provides services and products related to oil and natural gas exploration, development, and production.

Schlumberger offers technology and services for reservoir characterization, drilling, production, and processing in the oil and gas sector.

So, they have slightly different profiles.

Yes, both are considered oil services companies. But both do something slightly different.

Looking at the chart, Halliburton is unattractive, to say the least.

How unattractive is it?

Its recent low down here was on March 5. So, it was fairly recently.

The stock tried to move up a bit, but nothing else there is positive.

It’s only 6% off its lows, trading at $25. Those lows were $23.42.

I go by the intraday low back here on March 5.

So, it’s a pretty unattractive chart.

As far as the 50-day moving average, that sits at $26.44. So, it’s trading below its 50-day moving average.

The 200-day moving average is at $29.78.

Halliburton is trading 16% below its 200-day moving average.

I don’t see any consolidation here.

I don’t see anything that says, “Oh, maybe there’s a bottom or some kind of turn that might be technically interesting.”

But in Schlumberger, I do see a little something.

While Halliburton is 40% off of its 52-week highs, which is a pretty big drop, Schlumberger is down only 26% off of its highs.

And so, again, I see a little bit of something here.

There is a bottom here. We’ve made a nice move off that bottom of about 7%.

That’s a pretty decent move for Schlumberger off the bottom.

It looks like it’s working on a consolidation here.

And as far as the 50-day moving average, the stock closed on Tuesday afternoon at $41.13, just above its 50-day moving average at $40.90.

So, when I’m recording this for you guys Tuesday morning, it’s above its 50-day moving average.

The 200-day moving average for Schlumberger is $42.83.

The stock is only 4% away from its 200-day moving average.

That’s a lot better-looking chart, consolidation, and closeness to being above the 50-day and 200-day moving averages.

So, Schlumberger looks a lot better to me than Halliburton.

I also like what Schlumberger does better.

I like the reservoir characterization, production drilling, and processing.

So, for Halliburton versus Schlumberger, I’m gonna say Halliburton is a NOT, and Schlumberger is a BUY.

If you’re going to play in the oil services field, play Schlumberger.

I’ll catch you guys next week.

Cheers.