What Helmerich & Payne, Inc. told the SEC could break it.

H&P's drilling-rig and drilling-solutions revenue is derived from exploration & production companies' spending to explore for and develop crude oil and natural gas, and that spending is driven by E&P cash flow and commodity prices. A sustained decline in oil or gas prices, or in rig activity (North America rig counts have been soft), reduces demand, day rates and utilization for its FlexRig fleet, making earnings highly cyclical with the commodity cycle — even after its KCA Deutag-driven international diversification into the Middle East, South America, Europe and Africa.

“The demand for drilling services and solutions is derived from exploration and production companies spending money to explore and develop drilling prospects in search of crude oil and natural gas.”

Helmerich & Payne's revenue is concentrated in a small number of large oil-company customers. Its single largest drilling customer (unnamed) accounted for approximately 12.0% ($451.3 million) of total consolidated revenues in fiscal 2025 (11.0% / $302.6 million in 2024), and its largest North America Solutions customer represented about 18.2% ($429.4 million) of that segment's revenue. Its customer base is primarily major integrated, large independent, small-cap and private (including PE-backed) oil companies. Loss of, or a sharp pullback by, the largest customer would have an outsized impact on revenue.

“Revenue from drilling services performed for our largest drilling customer totaled approximately 12.0 percent ($451.3 million) and 11.0 percent ($302.6 million) of our total consolidated revenues during fiscal years 2025 and 2024, respectively.”