Two Alternatives In The Oil And Gas Services And Equipment Industry Following FMC Technologies' Downgrades

FMC Technologies, Inc. FTI is down about 1.2 percent on Tuesday, following a new rating by Societe Generale, which downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold, but still raised the price target from $49.00 to $55.00.

A few days ago, analysts at UBS also downgraded FMC from Buy to Neutral, and trimmed their price target from $57 to $52.

With analysts generally bearish on FMC, are there other oil and gas services and equipment companies that look better?

Weatherford International

Analysts seem quite fond of Weatherford International, Ltd WFT. In early-December, Credit Suisse and Oppenheimer issued Outperform recommendations, accompanied by price targets of $20 and $19, respectively. Later that month, Citigroup reiterated its Buy rating, escorted by a $15 price target.

The stock currently trades below $11.

Moreover, Morgan Stanley pointed out Weatherford as biggest near-term beneficiaries of the current environment of low oil prices.

Related Topic: Why Morgan Stanley Thinks The Oil Services Sector Will Evolve To Survive Collapse In Crude Prices

Baker Hughes

Wall Street research firms are also pretty bullish on Baker Hughes Incorporated BHI. Most recently, Citigroup reiterated a Buy rating, accompanied by a $70 price target, and RBC Capital upgraded the stock from Sector Perform to Outperform, raising its target to $72.

Also confident on the company is Jefferies, which issued a Buy rating and a $67 price target on December 18, 2014.

Oppenheimer, however, is not as bullish. The firm initiated coverage on the stock with a Perform rating and a $71 price target, recommending Weatherford instead.

Other oilfield services companies that Oppenheimer likes are Halliburton Company HAL and Schlumberger N.V. SLB. Check out highlights from the analyst reports in this article.