Baker Hughes sells equipment and services to oil and gas companies, power generators, and industrial customers across more than 120 countries. It runs two main businesses. The first, called Oilfield Services and Equipment (OFSE), helps customers drill wells, complete them, and pump oil and gas to the surface. The second, called Industrial and Energy Technology (IET), makes turbines, compressors, and related equipment for gas pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants, data centers, and factories. Revenue comes deal by deal and project by project, which means earnings rise and fall with how much customers choose to spend. The diagram below traces where the money goes.
Five years of financial data tell a clear story of recovery and then a fork in the road. Revenue climbed from $20.5 billion in 2021 to $27.8 billion in 2024, then held nearly flat at $27.7 billion in 2025. That flatness hides a split: IET grew 10% in 2025, driven by gas turbines and services, while OFSE shrank 8% as oil drilling activity fell globally. Gross margin improved steadily across the whole period, moving from roughly 20% in 2021 to roughly 24% in 2025, which means the company is keeping more of each dollar it earns before paying overhead.
Cash generation improved even as revenue stalled. Operating cash flow rose from $2.4 billion in 2021 to $3.8 billion in 2025. That improvement shows the company is collecting money from customers more efficiently and controlling costs better. Net debt, meaning total borrowings minus cash on hand, fell from $2.9 billion in 2021 to $2.4 billion in 2025, which means the balance sheet is in better shape today than it was four years ago.
The company is not standing still. It holds $35.9 billion in remaining performance obligations, which are confirmed future orders that have not yet been fulfilled. Of that total, $32.4 billion sits inside IET, mostly long-term contracts for gas turbines and related services. That backlog provides a layer of revenue visibility that the project-by-project oilfield business does not.
The risks the company faces are specific and serious. The biggest single supplier risk involves GE Vernova and GE Aerospace. Baker Hughes depends on both companies for gas turbines and aeroderivative engines sold through a shared joint venture called the Aero JV. If either supplier were to stop delivering, Baker Hughes could not easily replace them, and product sales in that area would stall. A second risk sits inside the balance sheet. Baker Hughes agreed in July 2025 to acquire Chart Industries for $210 per share in cash, which implies a total deal value of roughly $13.6 billion. That deal requires new debt financing. If the deal closes as expected in the second quarter of 2026, the company's debt load will rise significantly, and interest costs will increase.
A third risk concerns the pace of energy transition. Baker Hughes has invested in hydrogen, carbon capture (CCUS), and geothermal technologies, betting these markets will grow. If the shift away from oil and gas slows down or reverses, those investments may not generate the returns expected. Meanwhile, tariffs on goods imported from Europe, Mexico, and China are raising the cost of materials the company needs to manufacture products. The company may not always be able to pass those extra costs on to customers, which would squeeze margins. On top of that, global rig counts, which measure how many oil and gas drills are actively running, fell from an average of 2,087 worldwide in 2023 to 1,818 in 2025. Fewer active rigs means less demand for OFSE products and services.
Baker Hughes is trying to reduce its dependence on the oilfield cycle by growing IET, which serves gas infrastructure, data centers, and industrial customers. In 2025, the company booked $1 billion of orders tied to data center applications alone, and expects roughly $3 billion of data center-related orders between 2025 and 2027. That is a new source of demand that did not exist meaningfully before. Whether IET can grow fast enough to offset a prolonged OFSE downturn is the central question facing the business today.