What Happened?
A number of stocks jumped in the afternoon session after the U.S. launched "self-defense strikes" on Iran as Trump warned the country "will have to pay the price" for stalling negotiations. $90+ oil and a seventh consecutive inventory draw make sustained upstream spending the only logical decision for U.S. producers.
The EIA reported that crude inventories fell 7.2 million barrels the previous week, the seventh straight draw, nearly double the 4 million barrel consensus, while Cushing hub stocks fell to around 22 million barrels, a level describes as "multi-decade lows" for total U.S. petroleum stocks. Oilfield services companies (SLB, Halliburton, Baker Hughes) are paid when E&P operators drill.
When inventory is critically tight and oil is at $90+, producers expand rig counts and completion programs, not defer them. Iran's disruption of more than 11 million barrels per day of Middle East production placed U.S. upstream activity at the centre of global supply response, making sustained domestic drilling not just profitable but necessary.
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:
- Oilfield Services company Core Laboratories (NYSE: CLB) jumped 2.7%. Is now the time to buy Core Laboratories? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Oilfield Services company Helmerich & Payne (NYSE: HP) jumped 3.3%. Is now the time to buy Helmerich & Payne? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On Helmerich & Payne (HP)
Helmerich & Payne’s shares are quite volatile and have had 16 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 about 23 hours ago when the stock dropped 3.2% after President Trump said a US-Iran deal could come in "two or three days," pulling energy equities sharply lower as investors priced out the conflict premium.
That narrative collapsed at midday when US Central Command confirmed an American Apache helicopter had gone down near the coast of Oman, and Trump said the US "must respond" to what he described as an Iranian attack over the Strait of Hormuz. Rather than a clean reversal, the helicopter incident created deeper uncertainty for the sector. Oil prices might have recovered some losses on re-escalation risk, but a potential US military response introduces physical infrastructure risk across the Gulf that is harder to price than a headline ceasefire. The sector's net decline reflected a day where the bullish and bearish cases cancelled each other out, leaving investors unwilling to commit either way.
Helmerich & Payne is up 31.4% since the beginning of the year, and at $39.34 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $41.53 from May 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Helmerich & Payne’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,204.
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