Helmerich & Payne Q1 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Beat

Helmerich & Payne, Inc. HP reported a first-quarter fiscal 2026 adjusted net loss of 15 cents per share, which substantially missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of adjusted net income of 12 cents.  Moreover, the bottom line decreased considerably from the year-ago quarter’s reported profit of 71 cents. This was due to a weakness in the company's North America Solutions segment, along with the impact of a non-cash impairment charge of $103 million.

Operating revenues of $1 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $986 million. Sales from Drilling Services beat the consensus mark by 4.3%. Moreover, the figure increased 50.2% from the year-ago quarter’s level. This was primarily led by stronger-than-expected margin performance in international solutions, driven by lower-than-expected reactivation costs in Saudi.

Helmerich & Payne, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Helmerich & Payne, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Helmerich & Payne, Inc. Quote

The company distributed approximately $25 million to its shareholders as part of its ongoing dividend program.

As of the end of January, HP repaid $260 million on its existing $400 million term loan. The company now expects to repay the entire term loan by the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2026.

HP’s Q1 Segmental Performance

North America Solutions: Operating revenues of $563.9 million were down 5.7% year over year, with 143 average active rigs. The top line beat our projection of $555 million.

Operating profit totaled $36.2 million compared with $152.2 million in the prior-year period. The significant decrease was due to a one-time impairment of $98 million. The reported figure also missed our estimate of $123 million.

International Solutions: Operating revenues of $234.3 million increased 393.4% from the year-ago quarter’s level of $47.5 million. Moreover, the top line beat our projection of $231 million.

Operating loss reached $55.3 million, compared unfavorably with the prior-year period loss of $14.5 million. The figure was below our projected loss of $63 million.

Offshore Solutions: Revenues of $188.3 million increased 554.6% from the year-ago quarter’s level of $29.2 million. The top line beat our projection of $180 million.

Operating profit totaled $16.4 million compared with $3.5 million in the year-ago quarter.  The figure missed our estimate of $20.3 million.

HP’s Financial Position

In the reported quarter, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company spent $67.6 million on capital programs. As of Dec. 31, 2025, HP had $247.2 million in cash and cash equivalents, while the long-term debt totaled $2 billion (debt-to-capitalization of 42.8%).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

HP’s Guidance for Q2 & FY26

Operating guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 reflects the segment-wise expectations of the company. The North America Solutions is projected to deliver direct margins between $205 million and $230 million, supported by an average rig count of approximately 132 to 138. International Solutions is expected to generate direct margins in the range of $12 million to $22 million, with an average rig count of roughly 57 to 63. Offshore Solutions are forecast to contribute direct margins between $20 million and $30 million, based on average management contracts and contracted platform rigs of approximately 30 to 35. Other operations of the company are expected to add incremental direct margin ranging from $3 million to $8 million.

For fiscal 2026, depreciation is now expected to total approximately $700 million, while research and development expenses are projected to remain around $25 million. General and administrative expenses are anticipated to fall within a range of $265 million to $285 million, cash taxes payable are expected to be approximately $95 million to $145 million, and interest expense is forecast at roughly $100 million.

Important Earnings at a Glance

While we have discussed HP’s first-quarter results in detail, let us take a look at three other key reports in this space.

Suncor Energy Inc. SU reported fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted operating earnings of 79 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 77 cents. This outperformance can be attributed to strong production growth in its upstream segment. However, the bottom line declined from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure of 89 cents due to lower upstream price realizations.

Suncor Energy’s operating revenues of $8.8 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4%, primarily driven by increased sales volumes in both the upstream and downstream segments. However, the top line decreased approximately 1.3% year over year.

As of Dec. 31, 2025, SU had cash and cash equivalents of C$3.65 billion and long-term debt of C$9 billion. Its debt-to-capitalization was 16.7%.

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. PTEN reported a fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted net loss of 2 cents per share, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of an 11-cent loss, and an improvement from the year-ago quarter's loss of 12 cents. The better-than-expected performance was primarily backed by improvement in the company’s Completions Services segment and a reduction in operating costs and expenses.

PTEN’s total revenues of $1.2 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5%. This was driven by higher-than-expected revenues from Completion Services. The Completion Services segment reported revenues of $701.6 million, which beat the consensus mark of $647 million. However, the top line decreased about 1% year over year. This underperformance can be attributed to the decrease in year-over-year revenue contribution from the Drilling Services, Drilling Products and Other Services segments.

As of Dec. 31, 2025, Patterson-UTI Energy had cash and cash equivalents worth $420.6 million and long-term debt of $1.2 billion. Its debt-to-capitalization was 27.5%.

Another oil field service company, Liberty Energy Inc. LBRT, reported a fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted net profit of 5 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 16 cents by a considerable margin. The outperformance was driven by the company’s focus on technological innovation and strong operational execution. However, the bottom line decreased from the year-ago quarter’s profit of 10 cents.

LBRT's revenues totaled $1 billion, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $862 million. The top line also increased from the prior-year quarter’s $944 million by 10%, driven by higher activity levels that meaningfully exceeded the industry.

As of Dec. 31, Liberty Energy had approximately $28 million in cash and cash equivalents. The pressure pumper’s long-term debt of $241.5 million represented a debt-to-capitalization of 10.4%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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