Halliburton (HAL) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer HAL or SLB?

Halliburton presently has a consensus price target of $33.53, suggesting a potential upside of 57.81%. Schlumberger has a consensus price target of $52.44, suggesting a potential upside of 46.75%. Given Halliburton's higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Halliburton is more favorable than Schlumberger.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Halliburton	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Schlumberger	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	15 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.85

Is HAL or SLB 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
Halliburton	10.90%	26.03%	10.50%
Schlumberger	12.29%	21.90%	9.98%

Is HAL or SLB a better dividend stock?

Halliburton pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Schlumberger pays an annual dividend of $1.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Halliburton pays out 28.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Schlumberger pays out 38.6% 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. Halliburton has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Schlumberger has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Halliburton is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more risk and volatility, HAL or SLB?

Halliburton has a beta of 1.19, indicating that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Schlumberger has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher 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	$22.56B	0.81	$2.50B	$2.39	8.89
Schlumberger	$36.07B	1.35	$4.46B	$2.95	12.11

Does the media refer more to HAL or SLB?

In the previous week, Schlumberger had 1 more articles in the media than Halliburton. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for Schlumberger and 26 mentions for Halliburton. Schlumberger's average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat Halliburton's score of 0.76 indicating that Schlumberger is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Halliburton	15 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Schlumberger	21 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HAL or SLB?

Halliburton received 212 more outperform votes than Schlumberger when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 80.43% of users gave Halliburton an outperform vote while only 76.82% of users gave Schlumberger an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Halliburton	Outperform Votes 1952 80.43%	Underperform Votes 475 19.57%
Schlumberger	Outperform Votes 1740 76.82%	Underperform Votes 525 23.18%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in 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 large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Schlumberger beats Halliburton on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.