Jim Cramer says oil service stocks won’t see gains just yet under Trump

CNBC’s Jim Cramer told investors why he thinks oil service stocks might not immediately soar under President Donald Trump, even though he has rolled out an extensive pro-drilling agenda.

“The whole oil and gas industry loves a ‘drill, baby, drill’ White House, but doesn’t automatically take up the oil service stocks, or the producers for that matter,” he said. “After listening to what SLB and Halliburton have…had to say over the past week, considering the macro environment and the new geopolitical factors, I think their stocks can work over time, just perhaps not necessarily right now.”

Cramer reviewed recent earnings reports from the two major oil service companies SLB and Halliburton, saying he was fairly underwhelmed by their numbers and outlooks for 2025. Cramer noted that the SLB beat expectations, but he called management’s commentary about the future fairly cautious, but not all together poor. CEO Olivier Le Peuch acknowledged customers’ concerns about an oil oversupply, but he suggested the “oil supply imbalance will gradually abate,” and he highlighted the growing demand for energy due to artificial intelligence and data centers as well as a greater focus on energy security in general.

Meanwhile, Halliburton missed on revenue, eked out a small earnings beat and was also more guarded in terms of near-term prospects, Cramer said. But like with SLB, he was encouraged by Halliburton’s more upbeat long term outlook, with management citing a great need for energy because of AI.

Cramer said he is fairly tempered about the companies given comments from RBN Energy executive CEO Rusty Braziel, who said in interview on Tuesday oil producers may not immediately take advantage of Trump’s incentives to “drill, baby, drill” because of worries too much supply would lower prices. But according to Cramer, both stocks are relatively cheap, and in the next four years oil services cohort could make a comeback — especially when these companies decide they actually want to up production. It might be worth it to buy a small position if investors are willing to handle short-term losses, he added.

“Given how cheap they are, I can’t blame anyone for wanting to pick at them down here,” Cramer said. “Just please, I’m begging you, buy them gradually, because my bet is we’ll get more near-term weakness as American oil companies hold back to keep prices high and profits robust.”

Halliburton and SLB did not immedialtey respond to request for comment.

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