OXY vs DVN — which stock performed better?

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) versus Devon Energy Corporation (DVN), Energy, on 2026-08-03.

Result

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) performed better on 2026-08-03. OXY moved 3.690%, DVN moved -0.560%.

Why these two companies

Oil prices turned higher on Friday, July 31, 2026, as shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz began to falter following a fresh reescalation of Middle East tensions, putting a bid back under US shale producers. Occidental and Devon are two of the most-watched pure-play beneficiaries of that exact headline risk, and Devon now carries a very different profile than it did a few months ago after closing its roughly $28 billion merger with Coterra Energy on May 7, 2026, making this a timely test of which oil-price-linked story the market favors into next week.

The research

Occidental Petroleum digs up oil and natural gas, mostly in Texas and New Mexico, and also has a business that captures and sells carbon dioxide. Devon Energy does something similar across several US shale regions, and it just got a lot bigger after joining forces with another driller, Coterra Energy, earlier this year. Both companies make more money when oil prices rise and less when oil prices fall, which is exactly what's happening right now as tensions flare up around a key Middle Eastern shipping route.

One reason to like Occidental is its steadier, lower-swing history and its long-standing backing from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, which some investors see as a vote of confidence. One reason to like Devon is its newly larger size after the merger, plus a strong buyback and dividend program that management says will keep growing as the combined company saves money by cutting overlapping costs.

Something to keep in mind with Occidental is that it still carries a fair amount of debt and is under a new CEO, so there's some transition risk. Something to keep in mind with Devon is that an activist investor is publicly pushing the company to consider selling assets or even selling itself, which adds uncertainty on top of the normal job of digesting a big merger.

Both stocks report their latest quarterly results within days of each other in early August, and both are very sensitive to day-to-day oil price headlines, so this matchup is as much a bet on crude oil's next move as it is a bet on either individual company.