Middle East tensions brought a shock to the oil (CLQ25) markets, and oil prices remain slightly elevated despite the announced ceasefire between Israel and Iran. The conventional wisdom that caused oil prices to soar beyond $70 was that the “12-Day War” would morph into a regional conflict, one that would last for months or years.

Although that has not happened, many investors are still closely watching the region for any signs of tensions bubbling back up.

• 3 High-Quality Oil Stocks to Buy as Middle East Tensions Linger

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That’s why August crude oil futures are still above $65 at the moment. High-quality oil stocks stand to benefit from these elevated prices.

For investors looking to buy in now, here are three oil stocks that analysts love for their cash flow headroom here.

Inpex (IPXHY) is a Japanese energy company that produces and sells oil and natural gas (NGQ25). It also invests in and lends money to other energy companies and has recently been more involved in solar and geothermal power generation.

The analysts who compiled this list of high-quality oil stocks were looking for companies that were included the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP) or the iShares Global Energy ETF (IXC). From there, stocks were screened to focus on ones that had a debt-equity ratio below 70% and were in the top 20 for free cash flow headroom based on FCF estimates.

Inpex has 12.3% in estimated FCF headroom. It’s hard to think about a big negative here, since the company has very solid financials, and it also trades at very cheap multiples. You can grab the stock for just over 6 times trailing earnings.

Last year, Inpex’s net cash flow grew 635% to $267.5 million, and net income grew 24.34% to $2.8 billion.

However, investors should note that due to lower oil and gas sales in the first quarter, its revenue and operating profit fell.

The good news appears to be that management is still planning to hike its dividend later in 2025.

Devon Energy (DVN) is an oil and natural gas company in the United States. Any more Middle East conflict would lead to a sharp rise in both natural gas and oil prices in the U.S., as a fifth of all shipments in both of those energy categories go through regional arteries.

The U.S. has considerable domestic energy production, so such a price increase would directly benefit companies like Devon Energy. But even if such a crisis never happens, the financials here are strong.