SLB (NYSE:SLB) versus Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR) Head-To-Head Survey

Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR) and SLB (NYSE:SLB) are both energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

81.9% of Nabors Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.0% of SLB shares are held by institutional investors. 5.3% of Nabors Industries shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of SLB shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Nabors Industries and SLB, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nabors Industries	1	5	2	0	2.12
SLB	1	4	23	0	2.79

Nabors Industries presently has a consensus target price of $103.00, suggesting a potential upside of 33.67%. SLB has a consensus target price of $61.63, suggesting a potential upside of 23.51%. Given Nabors Industries’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Nabors Industries is more favorable than SLB.

Profitability

This table compares Nabors Industries and SLB’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nabors Industries	-1.17%	-3.98%	-0.85%
SLB	8.40%	13.77%	6.80%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Nabors Industries and SLB”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nabors Industries	$3.21 billion	0.36	$286.62 million	($4.65)	-16.57
SLB	$36.89 billion	2.00	$3.37 billion	$2.06	24.22

SLB has higher revenue and earnings than Nabors Industries. Nabors Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SLB, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Nabors Industries has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SLB has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

SLB beats Nabors Industries on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nabors Industries

Nabors Industries is an international drilling contractor that provides services and technology to the oil and natural gas industry. Its operations include land-based drilling rigs and offshore platform rigs, which it supplies to exploration and production companies. The company also offers services and technologies used to plan and carry out drilling operations. These include directional drilling, measurement-while-drilling systems, wellbore placement services, and software and automation tools designed to support drilling performance.

About SLB

SLB (NYSE: SLB), formerly known as Schlumberger, is a global technology company serving the energy industry. Founded in 1926, the company adopted the SLB name in 2022 and provides technologies and services across the energy value chain. Its offerings include subsurface evaluation, drilling and well-construction services, production systems, and digital tools that help customers plan and manage energy projects. SLB also develops solutions for areas such as carbon capture and storage, geothermal energy, and lithium production.