Jim Cramer’s Lightning Rounds: 9 Stocks in Focus

5. Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 30

Cramer was clear that he has no affinity for Transocean Ltd. (NYSE:RIG) as he does not even like SLB presently, which he implied was superior.

“I do not dig RIG. No, no, no. I do not dig RIG and I’ll tell you why, because if I don’t like SLB, there’s no way I can like RIG because they’re not nearly as good as SLB. So I’m gonna take a serious big-time size pass on your stock.”

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) offers offshore drilling services with specialized equipment and crews for both private and government energy companies. While Cramer made his dislike for RIG apparent recently, that was not the case in October 2024 when he commented:

“We hardly ever talk about the smaller offshore operators like Transocean, symbol RIG, I always love that… Transocean has lost money for the past 7 years. Its stock has plunged from $30 a decade ago to just below $4… in 2020 when oil prices collapsed at the beginning of the pandemic. Every major offshore driller except for Transocean went bankrupt but the stock rebounded dramatically from those lows before peaking at eight bucks and changed in the summer of last year. Since then it’s pulled back along with energy prices…

Transocean’s in the news. Last night, Bloomberg reported that the company’s exploring a merger with smaller rival, Seadrill. I don’t really have much of an opinion on the potential deal but it signifies more confidence in the offshore space than I’ve seen in over a decade. By the way, of course, the industry needs consolidation. Honestly, this group has been so bad for so long that it’s tough to recommend them here but if you strongly believe that the price of oil’s headed higher next year or the year after then Transocean is a winner. Personally, though, I don’t want to bet on that.”