Baker Hughes’ Big New Deal Shows Why It’s the Top Oil Services Stock

Power lines in front of a liquefied natural gas facility in British Columbia, Canada. (James MacDonald/Bloomberg)

Oilfield services company Baker Hughes is doubling down on its electricity and natural gas businesses, a savvy bet that has already paid off for investors over the past few years.

It is buying Georgia-based Chart Industries , an industrial firm with a growing business selling equipment for liquefied natural gas plants, one of the fastest-growing areas in energy. Baker Hughes said on Tuesday that it will buy Chart for $210 per share in cash, equating to an enterprise value of $13.6 billion.

That is an 18% premium to Chart’s closing price on Monday. Chart stock was up 16% in early trading. Baker Hughes was down 0.9%.

The buyout premium is significant, but not extraordinary. Chart traded above $210 as recently as January.

Barron’s highlighted Chart in February as one of the biggest beneficiaries of President Donald Trump’s energy policy. Chart makes equipment like cryogenic tanks, heat exchangers, and modular liquefaction plants for various industries, including energy. It is an important supplier to energy companies such as Exxon Mobil.

Chart also supplies air-cooling products to the data-center industry. Chart had said in June it would merge with fellow industrial company Flowserve , but the Baker Hughes offer was considered superior.

Baker Hughes has already separated itself from the pack of oil services companies in the past few years by pivoting aggressively to provide services for the liquefied natural gas industry, and selling power-generation equipment.

Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is expanding quickly and has strong political support from the Trump administration. The U.S. is on track to double its LNG export capacity by 2030, and keep growing after that.

Coming into Tuesday trading, Baker Hughes stock was up 21% over the past year, even as peers Halliburton and SLB were down 33% and 25% respectively.

The traditional oil services business has been stagnating because oil producers have learned how to drill more efficiently, reducing their need for outside help from oil services companies. In addition, producers like Chevron and Exxon Mobil have consolidated the oil market in the U.S., which means they have more negotiating leverage with oil services companies.

Baker Hughes’ business supplying services for LNG, however, has proved resilient. Its deal for Chart should help it continue to stand out from the pack.

Write to Avi Salzman at avi.salzman@barrons.com