NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Analysts at Oppenheimer raised their price target on Schlumberger Ltd. to $105 from $101 on Monday morning. The firm said it increased its price target on the oil services supplier as the company achieves higher margins. Oppenheimer has an "outperform" rating on Schlumberger stock. "Schlumberger blew away earnings estimates in Q1 as margins surprised to the upside. The company responded quickly to the downturn and reduced its workforce by 20,000 employees," Oppenheimer said in an analyst note. "We have been positive on the large-cap diversified service names due to our expectation of better margins relative to smaller companies with basic service offerings, but we were pleasantly surprised by SLB's impressive numbers. We do not think this report is a barometer of OFS health as we believe the balance of Q1 earnings season will be mostly ugly. We continue to recommend investors build positions in Schlumberger as it gets stronger by generating free cash and taking market share from weaker competitors," the firm added.Shares of Slumberger are up by 0.10% to $92.95 at the start of trading this morning. Insight from TheStreet Ratings Team: Schlumberger is a core holding of Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. During the most recent weekly roundup this is what Jim Cramer, Portfolio Manager and Jack Mohr, Director of Research Action Alerts PLUS had to say about the stock: The shares moved higher this week following strong results. On Thursday, Schlumberger reported 1Q'15 EPS of $1.06 vs. $0.91 consensus, with the beat primarily driven by higher margins, offsetting revenue, which was 1.6% lower than expected. EBITDA also came above consensus, beating by 5%. In our view, the results send a clear message as to why SLB trades at a premium to peers. 1Q'15 was a particularly difficult period for the industry given the sharp decline in E&P spending, especially in North America. SLB's North America (NAM) revenues fell roughly in line with consensus but margins came in at 13%, nearly double consensus at 7%. This is particularly impressive considering the general expectation that margins would be materially worse during this cycle. While International revenues fell 3% short of consensus, margins came in well ahead -- at 24.1% vs. 22.5% -- and were down a mere 100 basis points from the previous quarter. Management cited cost reductions and an acceleration of its transformation program as the primary drivers of the strong margin outperformance. This includes a plan to reduce the workforce by a further 11,000, leading to a total reduction of 20,000 (15% relative to the peak in 3Q'14). However, it is not clear if the headcount reductions have been completed, which of course begs the question of how much is left to go with the transformation program. All in all, the results are quite impressive and could suggest trough EPS 20%-25% above the prior downcycle. Management's commitment to maintain international revenues and margins makes us even more bulled up as we head into the balance of the year. We remain very confident in our SLB position, as we believe companies that focus on maximizing well efficiency (rather than discovering new wells) will outperform. In the current environment, as this week's results proved, productivity and efficiency are much more powerful forces than expedience. Our target is $105. -Jim Cramer and Jack Mohr 'Weekly Roundup' Originally Published on 4/17/15 On Action Alerts PLUS. Want more like this from Cramer and Mohr BEFORE your stock moves? Learn about Action Alerts PLUS Now! Must Read: Warren Buffett's Top 25 Stocks for 2015
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