Nabors Industries: 2Q26 Preview: "Ducks on the Water": L-48 Momentum Building and International Stabilizing, but Watch for Pricing Realizations and the NDS Read-Through

Research evidence excerpt

Nabors Industries: 2Q26 Preview: "Ducks on the Water": L-48 Momentum Building and International Stabilizing, but Watch for Pricing Realizations and the NDS Read-Through

J P M O R G A N North America Equity Research

08 July 2026

Nabors Industries

2Q26 Preview: “Ducks on the Water”: L-48 Momentum Underweight

Building and International Stabilizing, but Watch for NBR, NBR US

Pricing Realizations and the NDS Read-Through Price (07 Jul 26):$78.09

Price Target (Dec-26):$79.00

JPM View: In a colorful metaphor, NBR characterized the international backdrop Oil & Gas Exploration & Production

ACas “ducks on the water” that appear smooth on the surface with rigs coming on, but Arun Jayaram

a “ton of flapping” underneath as operators manage to keep operations running. (1-212) 622-8541

This was a fitting interpretive lens for a company executing steadily against a arun.jayaram@jpmchase.com

volatile macro. In the Lower-48, NBR was running 71 rigs at quarter-end, which Jason Kim

compares to the 70 rigs cited at our late-June J.P. Morgan Natural Resources (1-212) 622-1408

Conference fireside chat (see our key takeaways here) and the 69 rig 2Q26 exit jason.b.kim@jpmchase.com

guide during last quarter’s earnings call. While the environment remains Sowmya Vemulapalli

cooperative for drillers, rig adds have skewed towards private E&Ps, consistent (1-212) 270-4660

sowmya.vemulapalli@jpmchase.com

with the color shared by PTEN and HP. On pricing, NBR has not backed away from J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

its go-to-market posture, pushing on both terms and price as it continues to target

a move from the low $30,000s towards the mid-$30,000s into next year (against

a 1Q26 L-48 daily rig revenue baseline of $32,653), while candidly noting it is still Key Changes (FYE Dec)