What Happened?
A number of stocks jumped in the afternoon session after a Gulf tanker attack slowed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, while hurricane-driven production halts shut in Gulf of Mexico output, the Financial Times noted.
The resulting supply squeeze lifted Brent crude above $104 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate to $92, according to CNBC. When global supplies face sudden restrictions, benchmark crude prices tend to spike, boosting revenue expectations and profitability for major oil and gas producers across the energy industry.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, the following stocks were impacted:
- U.S. Shale E&P company Permian Resources (NYSE:PR) jumped 3.5%. Is now the time to buy Permian Resources? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Mixed or Offshore Upstream E&P company Granite Ridge Resources (NYSE:GRNT) jumped 3.6%. Is now the time to buy Granite Ridge Resources? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Diversified Upstream E&P company ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) jumped 3%. Is now the time to buy ExxonMobil? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- U.S. Shale E&P company Viper Energy (NASDAQ:VNOM) jumped 3.9%. Is now the time to buy Viper Energy? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On Viper Energy (VNOM)
Viper Energy’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 3 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 22 days ago when the stock dropped 7.6% on the news that the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision, pausing a recent rally even as Middle East supply risks remained in focus. Brent crude eased 1.1% to $107.61 a barrel, its first decline of the week, according to the Associated Press.
Reuters reported that oil's retreat and steadier bond yields came as investors waited for the Fed's policy announcement later in the day. The pullback followed a sharp Tuesday rally that had pushed benchmarks near four-month highs, even as traders continued to watch Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline outage and Red Sea shipping disruptions.
Exploration and production shares tend to move with near-term crude prices because those futures feed directly into expected revenue and cash flow, so a pause in the oil rally can trigger a sector-wide reset even when the longer-term supply backdrop is still tight.
Viper Energy is up 9.9% since the beginning of the year, but at $42.64 per share, it is still trading 16.3% below its 52-week high of $50.95 from May 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Viper Energy’s shares at the IPO in November 2023 would now be looking at an investment worth $1,363.
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