In the following video, Joel South talks to Taylor Muckerman about his top energy-services company. Domestic oil and gas service companies have taken a hit in the recent past because of a slowdown in the natural gas drilling boom of the past couple of years, and as this market looks to rebound, Taylor thinks investors would be wise to consider Halliburton, one of the top companies in the business and one of those most in tune with the domestic market. To access The Motley Fool's new premium research report on this industry stalwart, simply click here now and learn everything you need to know about how Halliburton is positioning itself both at home and abroad.
Joel South: You're talking about the international play with Schlumberger. That's a company, this year, that I liked a lot, because basically, if you're drilling internationally, you're not primed as much to the lower natural gas prices and a lot of the offshore plays.
But like you mentioned with Halliburton, there's definitely a lot going on with the fracking technology that they have.
Of the big four, it seems like Schlumberger and Halliburton are basically the top two, in your book.
Taylor Muckerman: I definitely think so, yeah.
Joel: Who is your favorite stock? If you had to pick one company of those four, who are you buying now?
Taylor: I think I'm going Halliburton, strictly because of their fracking experience. If it's not leveraged here in the United States, as I do anticipate, it's definitely going to be used internationally.
They've been the pioneer in some countries like Argentina and Saudi Arabia. They've drilled some of the first fracking wells in these countries, so they're being relied on heavily already, and this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as I'm concerned, internationally, because America only is projected to have around 20% of global shale reserves, so you're looking at 80% of that market being untapped.
With their "Frac of the Future" initiatives that they're running out, which involves both technological advances as well as educational centers that they're pioneering both in the United States and down in South America, I think they're primed to really move forward.
You look at Schlumberger, probably a close second, but definitely Halliburton above the rest.
