We recently published a list of the Top 15 Energy Companies with the Highest Upside Potential. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) stands against other top energy companies.
After posting notable gains in the first three months of 2025, the energy sector witnessed significant declines in April, primarily due to the ongoing global trade war sparked by President Trump’s tariffs and the prospects of an economic slowdown. The overall energy sector has now slid by around 3.8% since the beginning of the year, against a decline of about 5.8% by the wider market. Unsurprisingly, the downturn is led by the oil and gas sector, which has fallen by over 15% YTD.
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The primary reason behind this fall is the declining global price of crude oil, caused by the continued uncertainty surrounding global trade, demand fears, and the recent decision by OPEC+ to increase supply. The West Texas Intermediate crude price is currently hovering at a multi-year low level of just under $62, down by over 25% YoY. To make matters worse, the International Energy Agency recently cut its 2025 oil demand growth forecast by 300,000 barrels per day compared to last month, warning the world to ‘buckle up’ amid the escalating trade tensions.
That said, there are sectors in the energy industry that are still significantly bullish, with liquified natural gas being a prime example. The United States of America is already the largest LNG exporter in the world, with exports growing consistently over the last decade. Still, the industry continues to boom after it received significant support from the Trump administration, which has made boosting America’s fossil fuel sector its primary agenda. According to Wood Mackenzie, 15.5 million tons per annum (MTPA) of long-term LNG offtake contracts were signed in the first quarter of 2025, following a record 81 MTPA last year. These numbers are expected to spike in the coming months after more and more countries are looking to export American LNG to narrow their trade gap with the US, following a tariff threat by the White House.
Another important growth driver for the energy sector is the ongoing AI boom and its accompanying power-hungry data centers. According to a study by the American Clean Power Association, electricity demand in the US is expected to surge by 35-50% by 2040, driven by domestic manufacturing growth, data centers, and mass electrification. A primary candidate to satisfy this huge demand is natural gas, which is clean, reliable, and abundant. According to energy data provider Enverus, a total of 80 new gas power plants could be constructed in America by the end of the decade. That said, natural gas is not as cheap as it was a year ago, as prices have surged by around 36.6% over the last 52 weeks.
Another important candidate is nuclear energy, which has emerged as a hot topic these days, especially after several tech giants met on the sidelines of the CERAWeek conference in Houston and signed a pledge to support the goal of at least tripling the world’s nuclear energy capacity by 2050. A number of these companies have already signed contracts with nuclear energy providers to power their data centers, with Jeff Bezos’ online retail giant being a primary example.
A drilling rig in the desert with an orange sunset in the background.
Methodology
To collect data for this article, we examined companies operating in the energy sector and then compiled a list of the stocks with the highest upside potential according to Wall Street analysts, as of April 28, 2025. To keep our list relevant, we have only included companies with a market cap of $10 billion and above. The following are the Energy Companies with the Highest Upside Potential.
At Insider Monkey, we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL)
Upside Potential as of April 28: 42.59%
Founded in 1919, Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) is one of the largest providers of products and services to the energy industry in the world. The company boasts more than 45,000 employees, representing 130 nationalities in more than 80 countries.
Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) recently announced its Q1 2025 results, reporting an adjusted EPS of $0.6, in line with market expectations. The company’s revenue of $5.42 billion, however, managed to beat estimates by over $136.4 million, despite being down by almost 6.7% YoY. HAL’s North American revenue, which accounts for nearly half the business, was down 12% YoY, but this was partially offset by higher revenues from the Middle East and European markets. Moreover, Halliburton generated $377 million of cash flow from operations, $124 million of free cash flow, and repurchased approximately $250 million of its common stock during the first quarter.
Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) is the largest provider of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) services in the world, and its earnings depend on the price of oil and demand for drilling equipment. The company expects its future results to take a hit due to President Trump’s trade war, specifically asserting that tariffs could reduce Q2 EPS by $0.02 to $0.03. About 60% of the impact is expected to come from its completion & production segment, which includes its fracking business.
Overall, HAL ranks 7th on our list of the top energy companies with the highest upside potential. While we acknowledge the potential of HAL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than HAL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
