What Happened?

A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after Crude oil prices pulled back as traders locked in profits after two weeks of gains and awaited details on planned U.S. sanctions against Iran. According to CNBC, West Texas Intermediate fell roughly 2%–2.5% toward the mid-$80s per barrel on August 24, 2026, while Brent slipped a similar amount to the low $90s. The retreat followed consecutive weeks of strong gains driven by Middle East geopolitical risk.

Attention centered on U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s push for expanded sanctions aimed at economically isolating Tehran, including measures targeting entities that purchase and transport Iranian crude. Broader supply worries remain: commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz — which historically carries about 20% of global oil flows — stays constrained, even as alternative routes, U.S. output, and regional exports have so far limited severe shortages.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Mixed or Offshore Upstream E&P company Green Plains (NASDAQ: GPRE) fell 7.9%. Is now the time to buy Green Plains? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Oilfield Services company Liberty Energy (NYSE: LBRT) fell 4.4%. Is now the time to buy Liberty Energy? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Oilfield Services company Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR) fell 4.8%. Is now the time to buy Nabors Industries? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Mixed or Offshore Upstream E&P company Centrus Energy (NYSE: LEU) fell 6.1%. Is now the time to buy Centrus Energy? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Oilfield Services company Oceaneering (NYSE: OII) fell 5%. Is now the time to buy Oceaneering? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming In On Green Plains (GPRE)

Green Plains’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 46 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 18 days ago when the stock dropped 7.9% on the news that the company reported a significant drop in second-quarter revenue that missed analyst expectations, overshadowing a profit that beat forecasts. Revenue for the quarter fell 19.3% year on year to $446.2 million, well short of the $560 million analysts had anticipated.

While the company's GAAP profit of $0.83 per share came in 27% above consensus estimates, investors appeared more concerned with the top-line miss. The steep decline in sales signaled potential weakness in demand, leading to a negative sentiment that outweighed the positive earnings surprise and a beat on adjusted EBITDA.

Green Plains is up 45.6% since the beginning of the year, but at $14.97 per share, it is still trading 22.2% below its 52-week high of $19.23 from July 2026. Despite the year-to-date gain, investors who bought $1,000 worth of Green Plains’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at only $432.03.

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