Expanding Distributed Power And New Energy Will Define Long-Term Trends

Key Takeaways

• Expansion into energy transition markets and digital infrastructure positions Baker Hughes for higher-margin growth and recurring revenue.
  
• Portfolio optimization and technology-driven offerings enhance margins, recurring revenue, and long-term earnings durability.
  
• Heavy reliance on volatile oil and gas markets, cost pressures from tariffs and supply issues, plus exposure to policy changes and execution risks, threaten consistent profitability and stable growth.

Catalysts

Provides a portfolio of technologies and services to energy and industrial value chain worldwide.

• Baker Hughes is actively expanding into fast-growing markets like distributed power solutions for data centers and new energy infrastructure (hydrogen, CCS, geothermal), capitalizing on the robust increase in global energy demand-especially from digital infrastructure and emerging markets-which positions the company for long-term recurring revenue growth and higher-margin opportunities.
  
• The company's strong momentum in securing large-scale service contracts, framework agreements, and technology-driven orders (such as for data centers, LNG, CCS, and recurring gas tech services) is driving an all-time high IET backlog, building strong visibility into future revenue and supporting sustained earnings durability.
  
• Portfolio optimization-highlighted by recent divestitures and targeted acquisitions such as CDC-enables Baker Hughes to recycle capital into higher-growth, higher-margin, and less oil-price-sensitive segments, structurally improving margins and setting up future EBITDA/earnings expansion.
  
• Increasing customer focus on decarbonization, efficiency, and grid reliability is accelerating demand for Baker Hughes' proprietary digital, automation, and energy transition technologies (e.g., Cordant Solutions, Leucipa, hydrogen-ready NovaLT turbines), enhancing pricing power, expanding service attach rates, and increasing the mix of high-margin recurring revenue, which should support margin expansion.
  
• Implementation of Baker Hughes' business system and structural cost initiatives is driving multi-year improvements in operating leverage and net margins (demonstrated by 600 bps margin expansion over 5 years), with management targeting further gains that will compound the impact of revenue growth on long-term earnings and free cash flow.

Baker Hughes Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

• Analysts are assuming Baker Hughes's revenue will grow by 2.5% annually over the next 3 years.
• Analysts assume that profit margins will shrink from 11.0% today to 10.3% in 3 years time.
• Analysts expect earnings to reach $3.1 billion (and earnings per share of $3.16) by about July 2028, up from $3.0 billion today. However, there is some disagreement amongst the analysts with the more bearish ones expecting earnings as low as $2.6 billion.
• In order for the above numbers to justify the analysts price target, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 19.2x on those 2028 earnings, up from 14.8x today. This future PE is greater than the current PE for the US Energy Services industry at 11.7x.
• Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to decline by 0.76% per year for the next 3 years.
• To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 7.19%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

Baker Hughes Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

• The company faces ongoing risks from global trade policy shifts, including newly announced and potential future tariffs (e.g., U.S.-China, steel, aluminum, and copper tariffs), which could lead to additional cost pressures, supply chain disruptions, and margin compression not fully captured in current guidance; this threatens future EBITDA margins and net earnings.
  
• While Baker Hughes is successfully diversifying into new energy and digital solutions, the business remains significantly exposed to the volatile upstream oil and gas market, which is experiencing high single
• to low double-digit spending declines in key regions; this structural exposure risks sustained revenue headwinds and unpredictable earnings if decarbonization efforts accelerate or oil demand falters.
  
• The company's long-term growth forecasts rely heavily on expanding LNG, natural gas, and data center power solutions, but these sectors are vulnerable to policy shifts favoring renewables, electrification, or stricter ESG regulation; faster-than-anticipated adoption of clean energy solutions and electrification could erode the addressable market and pressure long-term revenue growth.
  
• Persistent cost inflation, supply chain tightness in gas tech equipment, and increasing customer expectations for lower service costs contribute to ongoing pricing pressure and potential margin erosion, particularly if Baker Hughes cannot maintain operational efficiencies at the current pace; these factors threaten both net margins and free cash flow generation.
  
• The continued need for portfolio optimization, including active divestiture of non-core assets and frequent M&A, introduces execution risk and may not yield sufficient improvement in recurring revenue or margin profiles; integration challenges, missteps in capital allocation, or underperformance of new acquisitions could adversely impact earnings stability and overall financial performance.

Valuation

• The analysts have a consensus price target of $49.591 for Baker Hughes based on their expectations of its future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors. However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of $56.0, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just $41.0.
• In order for you to agree with the analyst's consensus, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be $29.8 billion, earnings will come to $3.1 billion, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 19.2x, assuming you use a discount rate of 7.2%.
• Given the current share price of $45.75, the analyst price target of $49.59 is 7.7% higher. The relatively low difference between the current share price and the analyst consensus price target indicates that they believe on average, the company is fairly priced.
• We always encourage you to reach your own conclusions though. So sense check these analyst numbers against your own assumptions and expectations based on your understanding of the business and what you believe is probable.