The tanker calendar fills up fast in May. Seven names on our watchlist will print Q1 2026 earnings inside a four week window, and three of them have already locked in annual meeting dates that bracket the prints. If you trade these stocks, this is the calendar that decides where they close on the day of the report.
This post lays out the dates that matter, the three numbers that will set the tone for every release, and how the prints map onto the broader oil tape this quarter.
One. The Calendar.
Frontline (FRO) typically lands its Q1 release in the final week of May. The company has not posted a confirmed date for this print, but its prior pattern points to late May. Watch for an announcement on the FRO investor relations page in the next two weeks.
Scorpio Tankers (STNG), the largest pure play product tanker (refined oil tanker fleet) name on the board, also tends to report in the back half of May. STNG management has run conference calls the morning of the print followed by a same day buyback update, so expect both pieces of news on the same tape.
DHT Holdings (DHT) is the one to mark first. The company runs a 100 percent payout policy on adjusted operating cash flow, so its Q1 print is a dividend release as much as an earnings release. DHT’s prior pattern is to drop the release pre market in mid May.
Hafnia (HAFN) has the most date certainty on the board. The company filed for its 2026 annual general meeting on May 26 in Bermuda, and its Q1 release historically lands the week before. If the pattern holds, HAFN will print the third week of May.
Teekay Tankers (TNK) sits on a similar cadence. Look for a Q1 release in the second half of May, with management commentary that matters for both the rate outlook and the special dividend question that has hung over the stock since the last print.
Cyprus based CMB.TECH (CMBT) has its 2026 annual general meeting on May 21. The company is the tanker and dry bulk merger entity that took over the Euronav corporate shell in 2024. Q1 earnings will come either the same week or the week after, and the CMBT release will be the first full quarter print under the combined fleet structure.
Ardmore Shipping (ASC) is the smallest name on the watchlist. Its annual general meeting is scheduled for June 15. ASC tends to report Q1 in the back half of May, two to three weeks ahead of the meeting.
Seven prints, four weeks, one full read on the spot tanker market.
Two. The Three Numbers That Will Move The Stocks.
Number one is realized VLCC TD3C TCE. VLCC is the largest class of crude oil tanker. TD3C is the Baltic route that prices a one way Middle East Gulf to China crude voyage on a VLCC. The TCE (time charter equivalent, voyage revenue net of voyage costs divided by days at sea) is the rate every analyst uses to compare a tanker’s earnings against spot index levels. Q1 2026 saw heavy volatility on TD3C, with weekly TCE prints swinging from the low forty thousands per day to brief spikes above seventy thousand. The number that gets priced in is the average a company booked, not the spot index high. DHT, FRO, and CMBT are the three names where this single line decides the entire quarter.
Number two is MR triangulated TCE. The MR is the medium range product tanker, the workhorse of the refined oil trade. Triangulated TCE is what an MR earns when it strings three voyages together to avoid ballast (sailing empty in search of the next cargo). STNG, HAFN, TNK, and ASC are the four names where this rate sets the tone. The MR market in Q1 was steadier than crude and the print should reflect that, but the question every analyst will ask is whether April rates rolled over or held. A confident outlook on the call is worth more than the headline Q1 number on these stocks.
Number three is the dividend payout ratio guidance. FRO and DHT both run variable payout models that move with cash flow. STNG and HAFN have hybrids that mix a fixed quarterly dividend with a variable top up. Any change to the formula, the floor, or the leverage threshold (the debt to total capital cap that sits inside the policy) will move the stock more than the headline EPS (earnings per share). On the prior call, FRO management trimmed the guided payout language by a few words, and the stock dropped four percent the same day. Listen for the wording on every release.
Three. The Macro Read That Frames Every Print.
The tanker tape does not trade in a vacuum. Brent crude opened May at the high sixties per barrel and OPEC plus is set to meet in mid May to set production policy for the second half. A larger than expected production unwind from the cartel pushes more barrels onto the water and lifts tanker rates. A delay or a smaller move does the opposite. Whatever OPEC plus decides will land inside the same window as most of the Q1 prints, which means tanker stocks will price the macro on the same day they price the company specific number.
US crude exports are the second macro variable. The TD22 Gulf of Mexico to China route has been a swing factor for VLCC fleet utilization since 2023. A sustained pickup in US crude lifting from the Gulf coast tightens the VLCC market on the front haul. A pullback loosens it. The Energy Information Administration data due the week of May 14 will be the cleanest read.
The third macro piece is product cracks (the spread between refined product prices and the crude feedstock that goes into them). When cracks widen, refiners run hard, the product trade picks up, and MR tankers earn. When cracks compress, the trade slows. April cracks in Singapore and Northwest Europe held up well, which is the setup MR heavy names like STNG and HAFN will lean into on the call.
The OPEC plus meeting will land inside the same window as most of the prints, so the macro and the company numbers hit the tape on the same day.
Four. What Goes First Sets The Read.
The first one or two prints in the cycle set the framework analysts use for the rest. Last quarter, the first major tanker release set the tone for the group. A higher than expected bunker bill on a large fleet reset the model for every name that followed. This quarter, watch which name reports first. If it is FRO or DHT, the read is on VLCC realized rates and the dividend formula. If HAFN goes first, the read shifts to product tankers and the AGM commentary that follows. CMBT printing first would force the market to price the merged entity for the first time, which carries the widest possible reaction range.
A clean first print pulls the group higher into the next two reports. A miss, even a small one, drags the whole cohort sideways for a week.
Five. Trade Setup Into The Calendar.
If you own the watchlist into May, the earnings risk is concentrated, not diffuse. Position sizes that look reasonable on a normal week look heavy when seven prints land in twenty business days. The names with the most binary setups are DHT (dividend formula), FRO (payout language) and CMBT (first combined quarter). HAFN, STNG, TNK, and ASC carry less binary risk because the product tanker market gave the analysts a steady Q1 to model.
A simple rule of thumb. If a watchlist position is sitting on a gain heading into the print and the stock has run more than fifteen percent off its year to date low, trim ahead of the date. If the position is flat or down on the year, carry it through. The earnings cycle is short and the macro window is wide. The names that reset on a soft print typically stabilize within five trading days, and the cleanest entry on this group has historically been the day after the call, not the day before.
Mark the calendar. The next four weeks decide the shape of the trade for the rest of Q2.