Halliburton wins more analyst praise as J.P. Morgan ups to Overweight
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Halliburton (NYSE:HAL)
+1.2% pre-market, poised to break out to a new 52-week high, after J.P. Morgan upgrades shares to Overweight from Neutral with a $32 price target, raised from $30, citing the company's leadership in scale, flexibility and technology among oil service companies and "best-in-class" returns seen in the last cycle, as reported by MarketWatch.

"With an improving supply-demand balance in the [North American] pressure pumping market, we think Halliburton is primed to benefit from its leading position and realize net pricing gains," JPM analyst Arun Jayaram writes.
Halliburton is "primed to benefit disproportionately from tightness in the fracturing market in 2022 and beyond," according to Jayaram, adding that an anticipated $1.73B in free cash flow in 2023 could boost shareholder returns in the next 12-18 months.
The analyst also downgrades Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) to Neutral from Overweight with a $29 PT, citing valuation.
JPM's favorites among pure-play frac stocks are NexTier Oilfield Services (NYSE:NEX), driven by a discounted valuation, and ProPetro (NYSE:PUMP), which should benefit from its pure-play leverage to rising activity levels in the Permian Basin, strong operational track record and clean balance sheet.
Halliburton recently was upgraded at Morgan Stanley, which cited the company's commitment to capital restraint, and was tapped as the best oilfield services play by Bank of America.