	talking point oil services turnaround seen the oil services industry is on the verge of a recovery because of rising  prices oil industry analysts said the analysts who issued buy recommendations on some stocks said the recovery in oil services should begin in the second half of after drilling activity bottoms out in the first half and continue into the next decade people however cannot afford to wait for drilling to go up to start buying said sandi haber sweeney senior research analyst at sanford c bernstein and co inc among the recommended buys are schlumberger ltd slb halliburton co hal dresser industries di baker international bko and mcdermott international inc mdr which may be the target of a takeover by harold simmons a dallas based investor analysts said although major oil companies are increasing exploration and development overseas they expect the pickup in oil services will begin in the u s activity in the u s is so depressed it should move up faster said vishnu sharp of goldman sachs the number of active oil drilling rigs in the u s was last week compared with rigs one year ago huges tool co ht figures show the average number of working rigs in the u s for is projected at versus in according to ike kerridge vice president of stockholder relations at hughes tool the first significant pickup in drilling activity will occur in the second half of kerridge said overseas drilling activity is expected to follow a similar pattern kerridge said halliburton is the best value said jeffrey freedman vice president at smith barney harris and upham inc adding the company controls the greatest amount of liquidity of common stock market value is diversifed in non oil field businesess and has the lowest multiple of stock price to operating cash flow including debt schlumberger is freedman s second favorite oil service stock schlumberger is expected to continue to be the dominant technical leader in the industry freedman said schlumberger s management shift asset restructuring including a pending merger of fairchild semiconductor and its considerable cash horde sets the stage for the company to maximize its significant industry advantage and capitalize on the project upturn in exploration and development activity according to a report by george gaspar first vice president at robert w baird and co inc gaspar estimates earnings per share for schlumberger at cts for and one to dlrs in compared with cts in excluding a fourth quarter special charge of billion dlrs bernstein s sandi sweeney is recommending a group of oil service companies and said choosing among them is difficult her favorite is baker international which is involved in a possible merger with hughes tool co dresser industries will also benefit from the recovery but possibly not as much as other companies because it is not a pure service company sweeney said dresser is expected to improve profitability owing to cost reductions and streamlined operations including the sale and leaseback of its headquarters said swarup reuter 
