Baker Hughes is about to show its cards

The earnings game is on

Baker Hughes is heading into its first-quarter report after the closing bell today, and the vibe is classic “show us what you’ve got.” Analysts are looking for earnings of 49 cents a share, down a couple pennies from a year ago, while revenue is expected to come in at $6.33 billion versus $6.43 billion last year.

The side quest matters too

Just to keep things spicy, the company also agreed on April 13 to sell its Waygate Technologies unit to Hexagon in an all-cash deal worth about $1.45 billion. That’s the kind of corporate clean-up move investors love to squint at: less clutter, more cash, and maybe a cleaner story for the market to price.

Analysts are still leaning in

The other plot twist? Some of the more accurate analysts have been nudging targets higher anyway. Piper Sandler bumped its target to $64, Citi to $69, Susquehanna to $70, UBS to $69, and Evercore ISI sits at $68. Translation: nobody’s exactly running for the exits, even with the near-term earnings setup looking a bit softer.

Big picture: today’s report is really about whether Baker Hughes can balance a slightly weaker quarter with the kind of portfolio moves and analyst optimism that keep the stock from feeling like a one-note energy name.