The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Patterson-UTI and Cactus

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – August 17, 2026 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Patterson-UTI PTEN and Cactus, Inc. WHD.

Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Oil Above $80: 2 Energy Stocks You Don't Want to Miss

Fresh Middle East tensions, following the news that the United States has threatened to use its navy to block Iran’s maritime trade for an unspecified period, have renewed investor interest in the oil-energy space. With oil again in its glorious days, should investors bet on Patterson-UTI and Cactus, Inc.? Let’s dive in.

Oil Price Remains High

West Texas Intermediate (“WTI”) is currently trading above $80 per barrel, according to data from Oilprice.com, significantly higher than the shut-in and breakeven prices for existing wells in key resources. The escalation of Middle East conflicts has been aiding the rally in commodity prices.

In its latest short-term energy outlook, the EIA projects the WTI spot price to average $88.88 per barrel this year, a level that should remain supportive of upstream operations, as many producers have considerably lower breakeven costs. With higher exploration and production activities, demand for oilfield services and drilling activities is also expected to improve.

2 Stocks to Buy: PTEN & WHD

Patterson-UTIis expected to continue gaining from the prevailing crude-price scenario. This is because demand for the company’s services will likely remain robust, as the supportive commodity-price backdrop is expected to continue to bolster exploration and production operations. In other words, with increased exploration and production activities, upstream players will hire more drilling and completion services that will boost the bottom line of PTEN, which currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Being a manufacturer of highly engineered pressure-control and spoolable-pipe technologies, Cactus is well-positioned to gain on the highly favorable crude pricing environment. This is because the Zacks Rank #2 company’s products and technologies support the drilling, completion and production of onshore oil and gas wells. Also, WHD’s handsome backlog reflects future cash flow generation. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

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

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