MW This oil-services stock stays red hot, with help from the biggest profit beat in 3 years
By Tomi Kilgore
SLB's stock is having its best month since 2022, and the company plans to reward investors by boosting buybacks 67% to $4 billion
SLB's stock rallies toward a near two-year high after a big earnings beat, adding to the historic gains it has already seen this month.
Shares of the oil services giant formerly known as Schlumberger climbed even higher on Friday, as the release of strong fourth-quarter earnings gave investors a reason to extend their historic run-up this month.
After soaring nearly 30% to start the year, amid hopes that Venezuela will be a boon for companies that make oil-drilling equipment, a pullback in the stock $(SLB)$ after earnings wouldn't have been a surprise. But investors kept buying on Friday, after SLB beat both profit and revenue expectations by the widest margins in about three years.
The company also said it plans to pay a lot more to shareholders this year.
The stock surged 4.1% in recent morning trading toward a 21-month high. It has now soared 33.7% in January, putting it on track for the biggest monthly gain since it rocketed a record 44.9% in October 2022 after the announcement of global production cuts.
Melius Research analyst James West said SLB should be a big winner from the Trump administration's plan to rebuild Venezuela's oil industry, noting that SLB was the largest oil-services company with operations in the country.
Shares of fellow oil-services company Halliburton $(HAL)$ have jumped 25.1% in January and the VanEck Oil Services ETF OIH has rallied 23.4%, while the S&P 500 index SPX has edged up 0.9%.
Even before SLB starts reaping Venezuelan riches, which could take a while, the company was already providing a bullish backdrop for investors.
The company reported before Friday's open that fourth-quarter net income fell 24.7% from the same period a year ago to $824 million, as crude oil futures (CL00) dropped 14.3% in 2025. Adjusted earnings per share, which excludes nonrecurring items, fell to 78 cents from 92 cents, but was 5.4% above the average analyst EPS estimate compiled by FactSet of 74 cents.
Meanwhile, revenue rose 5% to $9.75 billion, or 2% above the FactSet consensus of $9.55 billion.
The margin of the EPS beat was the most since the third-quarter of 2022, and the revenue beat was the biggest since the first-quarter of 2023.
The company said it plans to repurchase $4 billion worth of its stock in 2026, representing 5.4% of the company's market capitalization of $73.7 billion as of Thursday's close. It's also 67% more than the $2.4 billion SLB spent on buybacks in 2025.
SLB also raised its quarterly dividend by 3.5% to 29.5 cents a share. At current stock prices, the new annual dividend rate implies a dividend yield of 2.30%, which compares with the yield on rival Halliburton's stock of 1.92% and the implied yield for the S&P 500 index SPX of 1.15%.
-Tomi Kilgore
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 23, 2026 09:53 ET (14:53 GMT)
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