Not a good buy right now: price is extended/overbought (RSI 81) and sitting just below near-term resistance (8.35), which skews risk toward a pullback.
Options positioning is extremely call-heavy and IV is elevated, suggesting crowded bullish sentiment (often late-stage for a short-term move).
With earnings on 2026-02-23 (after hours) and profitability/margins trending down YoY, near-term downside surprise risk is not attractive for an impatient entry.
Net: Avoid chasing here; better risk/reward would come on a dip toward support (~7.93 pivot, then ~7.51).
Technical Analysis
Trend: Bullish structure with SMA_5 > SMA_20 > SMA_200, indicating an established uptrend.
Momentum: MACD histogram is positive (0.0891) but contracting, implying upside momentum is slowing.
Overbought: RSI_6 at ~80.996 signals overbought conditions—often followed by consolidation or pullback.
Levels: Pivot support ~7.933; resistance R1 ~8.354 (price ~8.30 is close), next resistance R2 ~8.614; support S1 ~7.512.
Pattern-based forward view: Similar-pattern stats imply ~+2.12% over a week but ~-6.37% over a month, consistent with “near-term chop then mean reversion” risk.
Options Data
Bullish
Open Interest Put-Call Ratio
Bullish
Option Volume Put-Call Ratio
Positioning/Sentiment: Open interest put-call ratio 0.03 and volume put-call ratio ~0.0 (3 puts vs 978 calls) = extremely bullish/call-skewed sentiment.
Volatility: 30D IV ~66.59 vs historical vol ~36.85; IV percentile ~81.27 indicates options are pricey and the market is pricing elevated moves.
Activity: Today’s option volume 981 (101.6% of 30D avg), so sentiment is active, but the skew looks one-sided (potentially crowded).
Technical Summary
Sell
4
Buy
8
Positive Catalysts
beat expectations (EPS est. -0.02), the stock could sustain the trend.
Net income: $22.07M, -25.16% YoY (profitability weakening).
EPS: $0.15, -21.05% YoY.
Gross margin: 17.51%, down ~8.71% YoY (margin pressure is the key negative trend).
Growth
Profitability
Efficiency
Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends
No analyst rating or price-target change data was provided, so a recent Wall Street trend read isn’t available from this dataset.
Pros (typical bull case given the data): improving revenue trend and bullish technical structure.
Cons (typical bear case given the data): margin/EPS deterioration and imminent earnings risk with the stock already extended.
Wall Street analysts forecast HLX stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for HLX is 12 USD with a low forecast of 12 USD and a high forecast of 12 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
1 Analyst Rating
Wall Street analysts forecast HLX stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for HLX is 12 USD with a low forecast of 12 USD and a high forecast of 12 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
1 Buy
0 Hold
0 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 8.310
Low
12
Averages
12
High
12
Current: 8.310
Low
12
Averages
12
High
12
TD Cowen
James Schumm
Buy
maintain
$11 -> $12
AI Analysis
2025-10-24
Reason
TD Cowen
James Schumm
Price Target
$11 -> $12
AI Analysis
2025-10-24
maintain
Buy
Reason
TD Cowen analyst James Schumm raised the firm's price target on Helix Energy to $12 from $11 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The firm believes the shares have a very favorable risk/reward.
TD Cowen
TD Cowen
Buy
downgrade
$13 -> $11
2025-07-28
Reason
TD Cowen
TD Cowen
Price Target
$13 -> $11
2025-07-28
downgrade
Buy
Reason
TD Cowen lowered the firm's price target on Helix Energy to $11 from $13 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The firm said its The 2Q miss and 2nd negative FY guidance revision was disappointing but the risk/reward here is very favorable and they believe patient investors will be vindicated. Despite the recent bad news there were new awards in the UK North Sea and Shallow Water markets while Robotics continues to build on a strong outlook.
Unlock Full Analyst Thesis, Get the complete breakdown of rating reason for HLX