Patterson-UTI Energy ( NASDAQ: PTEN ) -11.8% in Thursday's trading after narrowly beating Q4 earnings and revenue estimates but outlining plans to activate additional rigs and a fracking crew, unlike peers.
Q4 net income increased to $100M, or $0.46/share, from $61.5M, or $0.28/share, for Q3, and Q4 revenues rose 8% Q/Q to $788M.
Q4 average U.S. rig count rose to 131 rigs from 128 in Q3; the company expect its U.S. rig count will average 130 in Q1 and then grow modestly throughout the rest of 2023.
"Based on our outlook for 2023 activity, which includes additional rig reactivations and the reactivation of our 13th spread, we expect 2023 capital expenditures will be ~$550M," CEO Andy Hendricks said, adding the company continues to target a return of 50% of free cash flow to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks, "given our outlook for significantly higher profitability and cash flow in 2023."
"None of PTEN's land drilling peers indicated that they are willing to activate rigs at this time," Benchmark analyst Kurt Hallead said, according to Bloomberg, adding that Patterson-UTI's ( PTEN ) decision likely will make investors "skittish."
Warning of " some softness in the natural gas markets ," Hendricks said on the post-earnings conference call that some rigs focused on drilling natural gas outside of the northeastern U.S. may be dropped amid plunging natgas prices, while oil-focused may see work pick up.
Patterson-UTI ( PTEN ) shares have lost 5.5% so far this year while rising 35% during the past year .
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Patterson-UTI plunges as plans to activate more rigs, frac crew buck rivals