- Helmerich & Payne (HP +2.6%) is upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight with an $80 price target, raised from $70, at Morgan Stanley, which says the stock offers a defensive play within the U.S. land drilling sector without taking meaningful balance sheet risk.
- "Data points from our conference suggest relative tightness in pockets of the high-spec rig market - notably Texas and Oklahoma - where HP has outsized share," Stanley analyst Ole Slorer writes, with "no reason to believe that HP will not share in these respective gains given its premium reputation and current ~25% share of working rigs in these regions."
- The firm believes HP's activity data and earnings momentum are "meaningfully better" than the sector at large and sees near-term outperformance in the shares.