ConocoPhillips Profit More Than Doubles and It Names a New CEO as Shares Give Back an Early Jump

ConocoPhillips shares climbed as much as 4% on Thursday morning, touching $120.05, before surrendering most of that advance to trade near $116, up about 1%, in early-afternoon trading. The move followed second-quarter results that more than doubled the oil producer’s profit, paired with a leadership announcement: finance chief Andy O’Brien will become chief executive on Sept. 1, succeeding Ryan Lance.

For the three months ended June 30, ConocoPhillips reported net income of $3.9 billion, or $3.23 a share, up from $2.0 billion, or $1.56, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, which strips out one-time items, earnings were $4.0 billion, or $3.24 a share, well ahead of the roughly $2.88 analysts had estimated. The driver was price. The company’s total average realized price reached $62.33 per barrel of oil equivalent, 36% higher than the $45.77 it fetched in the same quarter of 2025.

The company returned cash at a fast clip. It repurchased $2.0 billion of stock during the quarter, bringing the year-to-date total to $3.0 billion, and declared a third-quarter dividend of $0.84 a share, payable Sept. 1. It also said it had reached a $5 billion asset-sale target ahead of schedule, including $1.7 billion of noncore Lower 48 properties in a sale that closed in July. Two international moves accompanied the quarter: an agreement to take a 42% interest in a joint venture in the Kirkuk area of northern Iraq, and a deal to re-enter Syria using existing infrastructure.

The leadership handoff was the day’s other headline. O’Brien, currently chief financial officer and an executive vice president, takes over as president and chief executive on Sept. 1. Lance, who has run the company for 14 years, moves to a transitional role as executive chair of the board. Konnie Haynes-Welsh, the current vice president of finance and controller, steps up to senior vice president and CFO on the same date.

Shares had eased into the report. The stock fell 2.46% on Wednesday to close at $115.04, and it entered Thursday down 3.3% over the prior three months, though up 3.9% over the past month. At Wednesday’s close it sat 13% below its highest close of the past three months and 11% above the lowest. Volume on Wednesday ran 29% above the 20-day average.

That a company could more than double its profit and barely move its stock says something about what was already in the price. Oil earnings track crude, and prices had firmed through the quarter, so the size of the beat surprised fewer investors than the raw numbers suggest. A doubled buyback pace and an internal, telegraphed succession gave holders little reason to reprice the shares. The morning pop simply drained away as the session went on.

What to watch from here is short. The leadership changes and the dividend both take effect Sept. 1. O’Brien inherits a company that told investors to expect sequentially higher production in the third quarter, a plan he will now own. Its next quarterly results are due in late October, the first set of numbers under the new team.

This is a general-market summary for information only — not investment advice, and not a recommendation regarding any security.