Hunting – with Finals due early next month, shares now 480p, average brokers TP 634p – going higher

Mark Watson-Mitchell – 12.02.2026

Less than a month ago, I featured the shares of the Hunting Group (LON:HTG) at 401p, they are now 480p, and I see them going even higher.

It is a business that I have been following for nearly four decades, yes decades!

And I have maintained my faith in its ability to deliver for its shareholders.

Showing the strength of its Management, over the last seven years the corporate shape of Hunting has shifted significantly.

It is now estimated that some 75% of its group 2026E and beyond EBITDA is from divisions that did not exist in their current form prior to 2019, or which have been acquired.

And this is becoming evident to investors, as can be seen by the recent strength of the group’s shares.

The Business

Established in 1874, Hunting is a global, precision engineering group that provides precision-manufactured equipment and premium services.

The Company maintains a corporate office in Houston and is headquartered in London.

As well as the United Kingdom, the Company has operations in China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and the USA.

The Group has five operating segments: Hunting Titan; North America; Subsea Technologies; Europe, Middle East and Africa; and Asia Pacific.

It is based on five product groups: OCTG; Perforating Systems; Subsea; Advanced Manufacturing; and Other Manufacturing.

The group is a specialist manufacturer of customised, high-value components typically for the oil and gas industry.

Its chief product lines are perforating guns and associated systems, oil country tubular goods premium connections, subsea, and advanced manufacturing.

Almost all its businesses provide high-performance equipment, typically manufactured to tight tolerances using CNC machine tooling and to a mixture of Hunting and third-party specifications.

Its manufacturing footprint is around 50% in the United States, with the balance widely spread in Europe, Asia & the Middle East.

Buyers for its products include the oil service majors such as Schlumberger, Baker Hughes & Halliburton, with which it also competes, as well as oil companies directly and a wide range of customers in other industries.

These include geothermal and carbon capture, as well as aviation, defence, space, and other specialist capital equipment applications.

Its manufacturing footprint serves these customers worldwide, and hence activity in one region may be used for projects elsewhere in the world.

Full Year Trading Statement

On Tuesday, 13^th January, the group issued its 2025 Full Year Trading Statement showing EBITDA of some $135.0m, a 7% increase year-on-year, with an improved EBITDA margin of around 13%.

The company ended the year with a sales order book of $350m and a short-term tender pipeline exceeding $1bn, including a strong subsea pipeline of $300m.

Cash reserves stood at $59-$61m after significant outflows for acquisitions and shareholder returns, including $33.5m of a $60m share buyback completed.

For 2026, EBITDA is projected between $145m and $155m, with capital expenditure of $40-$50m and free cash flow expected to be 50% of EBITDA.

The company also raised its 2030 Subsea Technologies revenue ambition to $470m, with a target of $230m revenue and $50m EBITDA by 2028 for that segment.

Management Comment

CEO Jim Johnson stated that:

"2025 has seen further delivery of our Hunting 2030 strategy and we are well placed to deliver another year of growth as we enter 2026, despite wider market headwinds.

During the year, we successfully acquired and integrated the Flexible Engineered Solutions and the Organic Oil Recovery businesses while completing the divestment of our interest in Rival Downhole Tools, allowing us to recycle capital into faster growth and higher return businesses.

With our revised capital allocation priorities announced in July 2025, our shareholder returns increased during the year whilst retaining our financial flexibility to pursue earnings-enhancing acquisitions.

This is due to our strong focus on balance sheet efficiency and strength.

Our Subsea Technologies operating segment is poised for growth in the medium-term, a testament to our strategy to pivot our earnings to this sub-sector of the energy industry back in 2019.

The Spring and FES businesses are seeing strong opportunities within the SURF sub-sector of the industry, while the OOR business is seeing tremendous levels of interest in South America, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

Our integrated and enlarged subsea offering means that we can now offer customers a more comprehensive range of products.

As a result of this, we are today raising our guidance for Subsea Technologies revenue, as part of our Hunting 2030 growth plan, from c.$250 million p.a. to c.$470 million p.a. by the end of the decade, a figure we expect to deliver through further M&A activity in addition to a strong contribution from the OOR business."

The Equity

There are some 165m shares in issue.

The larger holders include Schroder (8.54%), Hunting Investments (7.04%), Franklin Mutual (5.36%), Aberdeen Investment (5.29%), GLG Partners (5.26%), UBS Asset (5.17%), Orbis (5.06%), Oasis (5.00%), Rathbones (3.94%) and Dimensional Fund (2.78%).

Broker’s Views

There are at least eight brokers following the group.

Four brokers call the shares as a Buy, one for Outperform with three saying Hold.

The consensus average Target Price is 634p, while the lowest is for 539p and the Highest 826p.

Analyst Daniel Slater, at Zeus Capital, rates the group’s shares as a Buy, with a 450p a share valuation.

Commenting upon the Trading Update, Slater suggested that Hunting had reported full-year EBITDA performance that was ‘in-line’ with expectations, while noting that the group had net cash ahead of guidance, rounding out a year of further growth for the company.

Slater expects growth to continue in 2026, especially as the company continues to focus on building out its Subsea business.

For the year to end-December 2025, he estimates that the group’s sales will be around $1,056.8m ($1,048.9m), while adjusted pre-tax profits could show out at $86.3m ($75.6m), generating earnings of 35.4c (31.4c), with a dividend of 13.0c (11.5c) per share.

For the year now underway, he looks for $1,128.4m sales, $97.8m profits, with 30.3c earnings and a 14.7c per share dividend.

At Berenberg, analyst Richard Dawson retained his ‘Buy’ recommendation with a Target Price of 450p.

Noting that Hunting is pivoting into higher revenues, he too sees that a more positive outlook for its subsea technologies division, which will help it to deliver further growth.

“Cash generation was particularly strong across the fourth quarter, leaving the year-end net cash position above guidance and the balance sheet in a strong position to deliver on the company’s shareholder returns framework and further M&A.

We think the segment could deliver a high-teens revenue compound annual growth rate to 2028, with the contributions typically high-margin and more resilient.”

My View

There is certainly a good amount of investor interest in the group’s shares ahead of it announcing its Finals on Thursday 5^th March.

Subsea chemical injection metering for multiple-well field developments with long offset distances from the host production facility.

I remain a keen supporter of the business, with its shares now at 480p, valuing it at £792m.

(Profile 15.03.21 @ 275p set a Target Price of 350p*)

(Profile 12.04.23 @ 240p set a Target Price of 300p*)

(Profile 15.01.26 @ 401p set a Target Price of 460p*)