Halliburton Company

Shares in oil and gas producers across the U.S. and Europe fell sharply after the U.S. military halted two weeks of strikes on Iran, with Tehran signaling it would suspend its own attacks as long as the pause holds, easing fears of a broader Middle East escalation and dragging crude prices lower. In the U.S., Chevron and Exxon Mobil dropped about 2.5% each, ConocoPhillips slid 3.1%, Devon Energy fell 3%, Occidental Petroleum shed 3.7%, and Diamondback Energy lost 2.7%, while oilfield services companies SLB and Halliburton slipped 1.3% and 1.8% respectively. European names saw steeper declines, with the region's oil and gas index down about 2%, as BP fell 3.6%, Equinor lost 5.4%, Var Energi, Eni, and Maurel & Prom dropped more than 4% each, and TotalEnergies and OMV were down around 3% each. Brent crude futures tumbled 6.7% to $90.24 a barrel following the announcements. The pause came as diplomats sought to give peace talks space after a China-led push to revive stalled negotiations in Pakistan, though analysts cautioned that the path to a lasting peace remains uncertain with contentious issues including Iran's nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz remaining closed under a U.S. blockade.

Wall Street's major averages rose on Tuesday after several earnings beats, while Halliburton shares slumped 6.3% on a sharp decline in Middle East sales and Novo Nordisk sued Eli Lilly over allegedly misleading weight-loss drug ads. Halliburton's second-quarter revenue from the Middle East dropped nearly 11% to $1.3 billion, impacted by lower oilfield activity in Kuwait, Iraq, and Qatar, even as the company topped adjusted earnings estimates by a penny with total revenue rising 3.7% year-over-year to $5.71 billion. Novo Nordisk filed a lawsuit in a New Jersey federal court accusing Eli Lilly of running ads for its GLP-1 weight-loss drugs that compare Lilly's highest-dose medications to Novo's lowest-dose ones, failing to consider a higher dose of Wegovy that became available in March. General Motors raised its full-year adjusted EBIT guidance to between $14.0 billion and $16.0 billion and adjusted EPS to $12 to $14 after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter results, but shares surrendered early gains after the automaker again lowered its net income guidance to a range of $8.4 billion to $9.8 billion due to ongoing EV-related costs. Amazon's regional cloud datacenter facilities in Bahrain were reportedly struck by Iranian cruise missiles, according to Al Jazeera citing a statement from Fars, a media outlet linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, though neither Amazon nor Bahrain's National Communication Center has confirmed the strike.

StockStory identified Helmerich & Payne as an energy stock to watch, citing its 32.2% annual revenue growth over the past five years and an 11-percentage-point EBITDA margin expansion. The firm flagged Halliburton and NOV as stocks to sell, pointing to Halliburton’s 16.8% gross margin and NOV’s 3.3% annual sales decline over the last decade along with a 3.4% free cash flow margin. Helmerich & Payne trades at 30.4 times forward earnings, while Halliburton and NOV trade at 13.6 and 17.9 times forward earnings, respectively.

Brent crude has fallen more than 20% in the past month to around $72 a barrel as the Strait of Hormuz partially reopens under a fragile U.S.-Iran truce, creating a mixed outlook for energy stocks. ExxonMobil faces a slow recovery with damaged Qatari LNG trains that could take up to five years to repair, though its Permian and Guyana output helped it beat first-quarter estimates. Halliburton trades at $34, well below Citi's $52 target, as Middle East drilling activity remains depressed but its crews are positioned for a rebound. Frontline, the world's largest VLCC operator, saw record profits from war-driven tanker chaos but now faces downgrades as rates normalize. Valero hit an all-time high near $259 on strong refining margins, while KBR is a speculative bet on regional reconstruction, with shares down roughly a third over the past year to around $32.

Halliburton is expected to report fiscal second-quarter 2026 earnings of $0.54 per share, down 1.8% from $0.55 a year ago, when it announces results before the market opens on Tuesday, July 21. The Houston-based energy services company has met or exceeded Wall Street estimates in its last four quarterly reports. For the full year, analysts project earnings of $2.34 per share, a 3.3% decline from fiscal 2025, but they forecast a 25.2% rebound to $2.93 in fiscal 2027. Halliburton shares have risen 65.8% over the past 52 weeks, outpacing the S&P 500's 19.8% gain, driven by strong international activity and an early North American recovery. Analysts hold a moderately bullish consensus with a Moderate Buy rating and an average price target of $44.72, implying a potential upside of 30.7%.

Shares of Halliburton, Patterson-UTI, and Talos Energy fell sharply after the United States and Iran signed an interim agreement waiving sanctions on Tehran's oil and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Halliburton dropped 4.1 percent, Patterson-UTI fell 3.7 percent, and Talos Energy declined 3.6 percent. The 14-point memorandum of understanding begins a 60-day negotiation period and immediately allows toll-free passage through the strait, which handles roughly 20 percent of the world's seaborne oil and LNG. WTI futures fell as much as 3.5 percent to an intraday low of 73 dollars and 60 cents, the lowest since March 2, while Brent crude dropped 2 percent to 77 dollars and 96 cents. The deal strips away the geopolitical risk premium that had been a powerful tailwind for the energy sector, as markets price in the return of sanctioned Iranian barrels and the normalization of shipping through the critical waterway.