Analyzing SLB (SLB) and Its Competitors

SLB (NYSE:SLB) is one of 177 publicly-traded companies in the “Energy Equipment & Services” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare SLB to similar businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation, risk, dividends and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares SLB and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SLB	8.40%	13.77%	6.80%
SLB Competitors	-10.63%	7.43%	1.47%

Risk and Volatility

SLB has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SLB’s rivals have a beta of 0.82, suggesting that their average stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for SLB and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SLB	1	3	24	0	2.82
SLB Competitors	1668	6821	8607	486	2.45

SLB presently has a consensus price target of $61.52, indicating a potential upside of 19.60%. As a group, “Energy Equipment & Services” companies have a potential upside of 36.73%. Given SLB’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe SLB has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares SLB and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
SLB	$35.71 billion	$3.37 billion	24.97
SLB Competitors	$3.23 billion	$29.73 million	17.38

SLB has higher revenue and earnings than its rivals. SLB is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

82.0% of SLB shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.0% of shares of all “Energy Equipment & Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of SLB shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.3% of shares of all “Energy Equipment & Services” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

SLB pays an annual dividend of $1.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. SLB pays out 57.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Energy Equipment & Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.0% and pay out 54.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. SLB has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. SLB lags its rivals as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Summary

SLB beats its rivals on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About SLB

Schlumberger Limited engages in the provision of technology for the energy industry worldwide. The company operates through four divisions: Digital & Integration, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems. The company provides field development and hydrocarbon production, carbon management, and integration of adjacent energy systems; reservoir interpretation and data processing services for exploration data; and well construction and production improvement services and products. It also offers subsurface geology and fluids evaluation information; open and cased hole services; exploration and production pressure, and flow-rate measurement services; and pressure pumping, well stimulation, and coiled tubing equipment solutions. In addition, the company offers mud logging, directional drilling, measurement-while-drilling, and logging-while-drilling services, as well as engineering support services; supplies drilling fluid systems; designs, manufactures, and markets roller cone and fixed cutter drill bits; bottom-hole-assembly and borehole enlargement technologies; well cementing products and services; well planning, well drilling, engineering, supervision, logistics, procurement, and contracting of third parties, as well as drilling rig management solutions; and drilling equipment and services, as well as land drilling rigs and related services. Further, it provides artificial lift production equipment and optimization services; supplies packers, safety valves, sand control technology, and various intelligent well completions technology and equipment; designs and manufactures valves, chokes, actuators, and surface trees; and OneSubsea, an integrated solutions, products, systems, and services, including wellheads, subsea trees, manifolds and flowline connectors, control systems, connectors, and services. The company was formerly known as Socie´te´ de Prospection E´lectrique. Schlumberger Limited was founded in 1926 and is based in Houston, Texas.