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Largest US land-drilling contractor, operating its FlexRig fleet for oil and gas exploration companies.
Largest US land-drilling contractor, operating its FlexRig fleet for oil and gas exploration companies.
Rents its rigs and crews to oil and gas producers at a daily rate, often under term contracts, so earnings follow rig counts and day rates rather than oil volumes. The 2024 purchase of KCA Deutag, an international and offshore driller, shifted the mix toward long-term overseas contracts, including in the Middle East.
Moat: narrow (scale, installed base, process know-how). Largest, newest US land-rig fleet with automation gives an efficiency and safety edge customers pay for.
Headquarters: Tulsa, Oklahoma, US · Founded: 1920 · Employees: 15,700
Size Helmerich & Payne (HP) is a United States Energy company (Contract Drilling) with a market value of $3.52B, the 1430th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $35.22 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 6.8%, against -16.1% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 4th highest of 12 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 16.6% over the last twelve months (peer median +4.0%); the operating margin is 2.7% (peer median 11.0%).
Valuation It trades at 26.3× forward earnings against a peer median of 17.4× (3rd most expensive of 11).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 20% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +16%, so the hurdle is +4 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 5.2 points below its cost of capital (7.1% WACC).
Backlog Backlog (remaining performance obligations) was $6.10B at 30 Jun 2026, up 13% on a year earlier — 1.5 years of trailing revenue. Backlog detail →
Credit Helmerich & Payne has 3 bonds outstanding ($1.24B), rated BBB by the agencies and trading like BBB at a weighted spread of 92 bp.
Short interest Short interest is 7.0% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 19 Nov 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $4.00B | $3.75B | $2.76B | $2.87B | $2.06B |
| Revenue growth | — | +36% | -4% | +40% | — |
| Gross profit | $419M | $554M | $730M | $777M | $230M |
| EBITDA | $839M | $857M | $842M | $923M | $425M |
| Net income | -$139M | -$165M | $339M | $428M | $5.45M |
| Free cash flow | $315M | $117M | $190M | $438M | -$17.0M |
| Capital expenditure | $264M | $426M | $495M | $395M | $251M |
| Total debt | $1.86B | $2.21B | $1.86B | $600M | $582M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helmerich & Payne HP | $3.52B | -7% | +17% | 3% | 26.3× | 19.9% |
| Nabors Industries NBR | $1.11B | -25% | +5% | 8% | 19.1× | 4.0% |
| Precision Drilling PD.TO | $1.16B | +6% | +8% | 7% | 11.4× | 11.6% |
| Patterson-UTI Energy PTEN | $3.76B | -13% | 0% | 0% | 26.0× | 42.6% |
| Transocean RIG | $5.85B | -18% | +4% | 21% | 19.4× | 3.8% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | HP | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -12.4% | -5.0% | 2nd lowest of 12 |
| 6-month return | -6.8% | -16.1% | 4th highest of 12 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -26.9% | -30.1% | 6th highest of 12 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +16.6% | +4.0% | 3rd highest of 12 |
| Operating margin | 2.7% | 11.0% | 2nd lowest of 12 |
| Forward P/E | 26.3× | 17.4× | 3rd most expensive of 11 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 19.9% | 7.8% | 2nd most demanding of 9 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +16.1% | +10.0% | 2nd highest of 9 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +3.7 pp | -3.6 pp | 3rd most demanding of 9 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -5.2 pp | -3.4 pp | 2nd lowest of 12 |
| EV / EBITDA | 6.2× | 7.1× | 3rd cheapest of 10 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.9× | 1.7× | 4th most indebted of 12 |
| Bond spread | 92 bp | n/a | — |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helmerich & Payne HP | United States | $3.52B | -7% | +17% | 3% | 26.3× | 19.9% | +16.1% |
| Sinopec Oilfield Service 600871.SS | China | $4.69B | -23% | +2% | 2% | 52.2× | -10.7% | +3.5% |
| Seadrill SDRL | United States | $2.63B | -13% | +17% | 10% | 15.8× | 16.0% | +6.3% |
| Odfjell Drilling ODL.OL | Norway | $2.57B | +4% | +11% | 23% | 10.0× | n/a | n/a |
| Valaris VAL | United States | $5.54B | -16% | -12% | 11% | 11.1× | n/a | n/a |
| Transocean RIG | United States | $5.85B | -18% | +4% | 21% | 19.4× | 3.8% | +4.7% |
| Noble NE | United States | $6.53B | -18% | -13% | 11% | 36.8× | 19.0% | +27.8% |
| China Oilfield Services 601808.SS | China | $7.30B | -16% | +3% | 12% | 14.1× | -16.5% | +11.7% |
| Precision Drilling PD.TO | Canada | $1.16B | +6% | +8% | 7% | 11.4× | 11.6% | +14.5% |
| Nabors Industries NBR | United States | $1.11B | -25% | +5% | 8% | 19.1× | 4.0% | +8.3% |
| Borr Drilling BORR | United States | $1,000M | -45% | +3% | 21% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Major Drilling Group International MDI.TO | Canada | $893M | -5% | +23% | 6% | 23.1× | 21.7% | +15.5% |
Helmerich & Payne has 3 bonds outstanding with $1.24B face value. The agencies rate it BBB; its bonds trade like BBB. Weighted yield 5.43%, a spread of 92 bp over government bonds.
Helmerich & Payne reported $6.10B of remaining performance obligations at 30 Jun 2026, up 13% from a year earlier and up 13% from the previous quarter. That is 1.5 years of trailing revenue already under contract. Book-to-bill last quarter: 1.68.