BKR is coming off a five-year high
Baker Hughes Co (NASDAQ:BKR) announced on March 22 that it is partnering with C3.ai (AI), Accenture (ACN), and Microsoft (MSFT). The four firms aim to work toward industrial asset management solutions for clients in the energy and industrial sectors. The companies will also explore collaborations that work toward net-zero carbon emissions and decacarbonized energy and industrial sectors.
While BKR was last seen down 3.5% to trade at $37.35 -- likely weighed on by the energy sector's selloff -- the stock still boasts a 55% year-to-date lead, and a 67% year-over-year lead. The 20-day moving average has provided support for the equity's ascension since early January, and helped it hit a nearly five-year high of $39.78 on March 24. Moreover, Baker Hughes offers a dividend yield of 1.92% with a forward dividend of $0.72.
Despite this positive price action, short-term options traders have been much more put-biased than normal. This is per the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.83, which stands higher than 77% of readings from the past 12 months.
Short sellers, on the other hand, have been hitting the exits in droves, falling 73.1% in the last reporting period. The 18.07 million shares sold short now make up a slim 2% of the stock's available float.
From a fundamental point of view, Baker Hughes stock offers very little long-term security or stability. The energy tech company holds $7.56 billion in total debt and $4.89 billion in cash on its balance sheet. BKR has also struggled with its top and bottom-line growth in recent years. Baker Hughes reported back-to-back years of revenue declines between fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2021 amounting to a 14% decrease. In addition, its annual net income is still down by $414 million since fiscal 2018, having reported $219 million in net losses for fiscal 2021.
Baker Hughes stock trades rich at a forward price-earnings ratio of 27.17 and a price-sales ratio of 1.51. Overall, the best thing BKR has going for it is that the energy tech company is estimated to grow revenues by 10.2% and earnings by 37.2% for fiscal 2023, potentially making Baker Hughes stock an option for short-term investors.