Billionaire David Einhorn’s 10 Stock Picks with Huge Upside Potential

2. Seadrill Limited. (NYSE:SDRL)

Greenlight Capital’s Q4 Stake: $32.7 million

Analyst Upside as of April 30: 160.52%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 42

Seadrill Limited. (NYSE:SDRL) delivers offshore drilling services to the oil and gas industries globally. The company owns and operates drill ships and semi-submersible rigs that operate in shallow and ultra-deepwater in benign and hazardous environments.

In the fourth quarter alone, Seadrill Limited. (NYSE:SDRL) repurchased $100 million in shares, reducing its issued share count by 22% since the program debuted in September 2023. To date, $792 million has been returned to shareholders. The company has also received about 65% of the global backlog granted to the four largest publicly traded offshore drillers, despite accounting for only 18% of the drillship fleet.

Seadrill Limited. (NYSE:SDRL) received two substantial long-term contracts in Brazil back in December 2024, set to begin in 2026. These added $1 billion to the company’s backlog and included a mobilization cost that surpassed $70 million.

Patient Capital Opportunity Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Seadrill Limited (NYSE:SDRL) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

“Seadrill Limited (NYSE:SDRL) is the fourth largest pure play deepwater drilling specialist. The company emerged from bankruptcy in February 2022 with a net cash position and is positioned to benefit from limited supply and increasing demand in the deepwater drilling rig market. Nearly half of all deepwater drilling rigs worldwide were scrapped during the last decade, while industry consolidation has created a more rational competitive landscape than we’ve seen historically. Although oil demand has remained reasonably healthy, surprisingly strong onshore production from the USA, Canada and Russia has helped keep a lid on prices. While this has negatively impacted contract rates near-term, we believe that long-term future shale supply growth will be limited, and more offshore supply will be required benefitting offshore drillers. Given its highly specialized rig fleet and minimal debt, we believe the company is well positioned to benefit from improving prices when demand rebounds. We believe Seadrill could either lead industry consolidation or become an acquisition target.”