New York, January 6, 2026, 12:01 EST — Regular session
- SLB shares edge lower after a sharp rally tied to Venezuela headlines.
- Evercore ISI upgraded the stock, while Freedom Capital Markets cut it to Hold.
- Traders now look to policy follow-through and SLB’s Jan. 23 results and call.
Shares of SLB (SLB.N) slipped 0.1% to $43.76 by 12:01 p.m. EST on Tuesday as fresh analyst calls clashed after a Venezuela-fuelled surge in oil-linked names. The stock traded between $43.42 and $44.76 on the day.
The stock is in focus after U.S. energy shares jumped on Monday on bets that a shift in Washington’s stance could reopen access to Venezuela’s vast reserves, and draw in suppliers needed to lift output. Venezuelan crude is typically “heavy sour” — thick, high-sulfur oil — and “aligns well” with U.S. Gulf Coast refinery configurations, said Ahmad Assiri, a research strategist at Pepperstone, while analysts also warned any meaningful recovery would take time after years of underinvestment. Reuters
That matters now because the trade has moved quickly from geopolitics to positioning, with investors weighing potential upside in work tied to re-starting production against a softer oil tape and an earnings season around the corner. For SLB, the next test is whether the post-rally bid can hold into results and guidance.
Evercore ISI upgraded SLB to “Outperform” from “In Line” and lifted its price target — an analyst’s estimate of where the stock could trade — to $54 from $38, saying the outlook is “much clearer than it has been in 2+ years.” Evercore also said it expects international, especially Middle East, spending to outpace North America in 2026, a setup it believes favours SLB. Investing.com
SLB rose 8.96% on Monday to close at $43.80, with peers Halliburton (HAL.N) up 7.84% and Baker Hughes (BKR.O) up 4.09% as oilfield services names tracked the broader Venezuela-linked move.
But Freedom Capital Markets analyst Sergey Pigarev cut SLB to Hold from Buy and set a $47 price target, arguing “rising oil and gas equities amid declining oil prices is a dangerous game” and calling the Venezuela-driven “euphoria” unjustified. Pigarev said an oversupplied market could keep pressure on hydrocarbon prices into the first half of 2026, raising the risk that late-January earnings reports drag the group. StreetInsider.com
Investors are now watching for concrete policy steps that would clarify the Venezuela trade, and for SLB’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results on January 23, when it plans to release figures at 7:00 a.m. Eastern and hold a conference call at 9:30 a.m.
