Is the business good?
How good a business is HP?
Helmerich & Payne, Inc. earns 1.7% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
1.7%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 7.3 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 2.3%
Operating margin · Oil & Gas Drilling median 5.0% · 12 months to Q3 2026
- Share count, year on year
- +0.61%
Share count, year on year · flat: no meaningful dilution
- R&D as % of revenue
- 0.68%
R&D as % of revenue
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | −35% |
| FY2021 | −35% |
| FY2022 | 2.2% |
| FY2023 | 20% |
| FY2024 | 17% |
| FY2025 | 0.09% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 32%
- Operating margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 2.3%
- Net margin12 months to Q3 2026
- −3.4%
- Free cash flow margin
- 7.9%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 0.68%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $4.00B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $315M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- −$137M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 1.7%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.
Oil & Gas Drilling
Ranks #7 of 9 by Smart Score