If Trump’s Energy Chief Can’t Lift His Own Oil Stock, How’s He Supposed to Lift the Industry?

There’s nothing like the smell of cheap gas in the morning. At least, that’s what voters thought they were signing up for when they re-hired Trump and his “drill baby drill” battle cry. More oil, less regulation, and cheaper fill-ups, right? Well… not exactly.

Turns out, the oil patch isn't exactly throwing a MAGA-themed kegger just yet. And if you need proof, just look at Liberty Energy… the company formerly led by Trump’s new Energy Secretary, Chris Wright. It’s down 45% this year.

Yep. Before getting tapped by Trump to run energy strategy, Chris Wright was CEO of Liberty Energy… a fracking services company that does everything from hydraulic fracturing to hauling around compressed natural gas. It’s basically the DoorDash of drilling. And the company’s stock is now trading like Enron (ok, it’s not that bad, but things are looking dreary).

Wright, to his credit, is trying to stay positive. He recently told the media that the Trump administration is giving a “green light” to more U.S. oil production. Which sounds nice… except the entire oilfield service sector just ran that light and slammed into a brick wall.

Liberty’s 45% fall isn’t some random fluke. An index of U.S. oilfield servicers is down 28% this year. Compare that to oil producers (like Exxon or Diamondback Energy) who are only down 3% and 23% respectively. Why? Because producers still make money from existing wells. Servicers? They only get paid if someone is drilling something new.

And right now, producers are hitting the brakes like they just saw a cop in their rearview mirror parked on the side of the road. Thanks to falling crude prices (WTI is flirting with $60 a barrel) and OPEC’s decision to flood the market with more oil, nobody wants to ramp up production into an oversupplied mess.

As JPMorgan warned, if prices stay near $60, the U.S. could cut 50 rigs, wiping out half a million barrels per day in output. Drop it to $55, and the impact doubles. So much for energy dominance.

“But didn’t we vote for cheaper gas?” We did. And to be fair, Trump’s team wants more drilling. But the market doesn’t care what politicians want… it cares about profit. And right now, drilling isn’t all that profitable. Liberty’s net margin is just 5.5%. And Return on equity? It’s even worse at 2.63%. That’s not oil money. That’s lemonade-stand money.

Plus, tariffs and economic worries have thrown a wet blanket over any optimism. As one analyst put it: “It’s just going to be painful” (couldn’t have said it better myself).

So while Wright is out here saying the shale industry will “survive and thrive,” his old company is getting steamrolled. And investors are starting to wonder if this “green light” is actually just a green light for them to sell the stock.

Trump’s energy agenda promised to unleash American oil, drive prices down, and bring “prosperity at home and peace abroad.” But so far, all it’s brought is a fracking hangover and a lot of red on Liberty Energy’s stock chart.

PS: Don’t fall for the narrative that nothing’s going up in this Trump tariff firestorm… that’s just noise. While the headlines scream doom and gloom, our Stocks.News Premium members are getting early alerts on stocks that explode 50%... even 100%+ in a single day. Every. Single. Week.

If you're sick of watching these moves from the sidelines, it might be time to get off the bench. With Premium, you’ll get two trade alerts a week, plus access to our Insider Trading Tool that tracks everyone from overpaid CEOs to your favorite Congress members magically buying before the news breaks.

Oh, and unlike Bloomberg, we don’t charge a small fortune to deliver actionable info. Their terminals might look fancy, but do they catch real-time squeeze setups and insider buys before they rip? Yeah… didn’t think so. Go here to become a Stocks.News premium member now.

Stock.News has positions in Exxon Mobil.