SLB N.V.
Orin's own judgment of how firmly the evidence points one way — not the chance the price goes up.
SLB remains a hold — the stock has corrected to $48.74 from $57.15 at the prior verdict, with RSI at 32.0 signaling oversold conditions, but the fundamental picture is still mixed.
FY2025 EPS declined 24.4% to $2.35 with operating margin compressing to 15.3% from 17.4%, though 2026 quarterly revenue is recovering (Q2 2026 +5.0% YoY to $8.97B) alongside consistent earnings beats. Recent contract wins — Aramco covering more than 450 wells, Rovuma LNG subsea systems, and Oman — provide multi-year revenue visibility, yet at 23.98x P/E the stock trades at a 49% premium to the peer median of 16.07, and CEO Olivier Le Peuch's open-market sales at $52.55–$60.00 alongside a slightly negative smart-money score of -0.01 argue against chasing the selloff ahead of the October 23 Q3 2026 earnings call.
What could go wrong
- Margin compression. FY2025 operating margin of 15.3% is down from 17.4% in FY2024; gross margin also fell to 18.2% from 20.6%, indicating profitability erosion that could persist.
- Insider selling. CEO Olivier Le Peuch sold shares at $52.55–$60.00 in August–September 2026; 24-month net insider selling of approximately $33.8M across 61 dispositions vs 55 acquisitions.
- Valuation premium. P/E of 23.98 sits 49% above the peer median of 16.07, a premium that is difficult to justify with FY2025 EPS down 24.4% YoY.
- Oil-price sensitivity. SLB's revenue and backlog depend on sustained global E&P spending; an oil-price downturn would pressure activity levels and the recently announced contract pipeline.
What would change my mind
Where this comes from: FY24 and FY25 fundamentals · quarterly results · technicals · peer comparison. Orin's read on SLB; not advice.
How has the share price moved?
Up 49.6% over twelve months, from $36.16 on 27 Oct 2025 to $54.08 at the Tue 27 Oct 2026 close. Its highest close in that time was $60.10 on 31 Aug 2026; the last close is 10.0% below it.
- Green line: the closing price each trading day.
- Grey line: the average closing price over the last 50 trading days.
- Dashed amber line: the same over the last 200 trading days — a slower, smoother line.
- Bars along the bottom: shares traded each day — green when it closed higher than the day before, rose when lower (the most, 65.3M, on 20 Mar 2026).
- Flags: the company's filings, on the day they were made (a 10-Q is the quarterly report and a 10-K the annual report; an 8-K reports a major event).
On file
All SLB filingsLargest holders · 13F Q2 2026
Money flow| Filer | Position | Of fund |
|---|---|---|
| BlackRock | $5.4B | 0.1% |
| Vanguard Capital Management | $4.5B | 0.1% |
| State Street | $4.3B | 0.1% |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | $3.5B | 0.2% |
| T. Rowe Price Associates | $2.9B | 0.3% |
| Charles Schwab Investment Management | $2.2B | 0.3% |
| Capital World Investors | $2.2B | 0.3% |
| Morgan Stanley | $1.8B | 0.1% |
| Geode Capital Management | $1.6B | 0.1% |
| Bank of New York Mellon | $1.3B | 0.2% |
119 of the 815 filers we track · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows
Insiders, last 24 months: 116 Form 4 filings; open-market trades net −$22.8M. Of the 50 on hand, 0 were open-market purchases and 16 sales — the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.
Ask Orin about SLB
Orin answers questions about SLB from its filings, transcripts and numbers — with the source behind every claim. Your own desk starts with 3 free days, card required.
Start 3 free days →How is it priced, against its own past and its sector?
Priced at 26.0× its last 12 months of profit (Tue 27 Oct close) — higher than in all 5 of its last 5 fiscal years (middle 17.6×); the typical Energy company on the NYSE is at 17.6×.
| Measure | Now | Its usual | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| P/E | 26.0×above usual | 17.6× | 17.6× |
| P/S | 2.18×above usual | 1.83× | — |
| EV/EBITDA | 12.4×above usual | 10.8× | — |
| P/B | 2.2×below usual | 2.8× | — |
- "Its usual" is the middle of its own last 5 fiscal years.
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
P/S: the company's total market value divided by one year of revenue. Used when there is no profit to measure.
EV/EBITDA: the price of the whole company (its shares plus its debt, minus its cash) divided by one year of operating profit before interest, tax and write-downs.
P/B: the share price divided by the book value per share — what the company owns minus what it owes, as its accounts record it. When book value is tiny, P/B swings wildly and says little.
What do the analysts who cover it publish?
The analysts' average 12-month price target is $64 (from $54 to $71) — 18% above the Tue 27 Oct close price. That is their published opinion, not Orin's.
$64
$54 – $71 · +18% against the last close
- 18 buy or overweight
- 2 hold
- 0 underweight or sell
Price target: the share price an analyst publishes for about 12 months ahead. It is the opinion of the firm that wrote it; the average is across the firms that cover the company.
Overweight / underweight: analysts' rating words: overweight means the firm expects the stock to do better than the others it covers, underweight worse. Their words, not Orin's.
How is it priced next to the companies it is compared to?
Priced at 26.0× its last 12 months of profit. Only 2 of the 2 companies it is compared to made a profit (BKR 20.1×, HAL 14.9×), so there is no typical P/E.
| Company | Market value | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross margin | Net margin | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SLBSLB N.V. | $80B | 26.0× | 12.4× | 16.3% | 8.3% | 11% |
| BKRBaker Hughes Company | $59B | 20.1× | 14.6× | 23.5% | 10.1% | 14% |
| HALHalliburton Company | $30B | 14.9× | 8.9× | 15.0% | 8.9% | 18% |
- The list of companies is the data vendor's choice, so it can include a company a person would not have picked.
Market value: the share price times the number of shares — what the whole company is priced at.
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
EV/EBITDA: the price of the whole company (its shares plus its debt, minus its cash) divided by one year of operating profit before interest, tax and write-downs.
Gross margin: the share of each $1 of sales left after the direct cost of making what was sold.
Net margin: the share of each $1 of sales kept as profit after every cost. Below zero, the company lost money.
ROE: return on equity: one year of profit as a share of the shareholders' money in the business (its book value).
Is it priced high or low compared with its own past?
Priced at 26.0× its last 12 months of profit (Tue 27 Oct close). It has no full fiscal year on file since its history starts, so there is nothing of its own to compare with.
- Now26.0×
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
Fiscal year (FY): the company's own 12-month accounting year, which need not match the calendar year.
How has its sector been priced?
Energy companies on the NYSE were priced at a typical 17.6× their yearly profit (Tue 27 Oct close).
- Now17.6×
- Each year is the middle of that calendar year's daily sector P/E; "Now" is the Tue 27 Oct close figure, the same one in the table above.
Sector P/E: the middle P/E of the companies in the same sector on the same stock exchange, as the data vendor works it out each day.
What does a cash-flow model say a share is worth?
A standard cash-flow model puts it at $50 a share — 6% below the $53.58 price it was computed against (27 Oct).
| Model | Value a share | Against the price then |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $50 | 6% below $53.58 |
| Levered | $46 | 13% below $53.58 |
Discounted cash flow: a model's estimate of what the company is worth today, from the cash it is forecast to make in future years. Small changes in the forecast move it a lot, and it says little about a company that loses money.
Standard / levered: two versions of the cash-flow model: the standard one counts the cash before the company pays its lenders, the levered one after.