Oilfield service firms signal stronger North America outlook

Investing.com -- Patterson-UTI Energy, ProFrac Holding and Nabors Industries provided upbeat outlooks for the North America drilling and completion services market in their second-quarter results, according to Barclays analysts.

The three companies reported stronger activity levels and pricing improvements that contrasted with more cautious commentary from Halliburton and Liberty Energy two weeks earlier, Barclays said.

Patterson-UTI posted second-quarter EBITDA 5% above both Barclays and consensus estimates. The company guided third-quarter EBITDA to approximately $260 million, about 8% above consensus. CEO Andy Hendricks said both activity and pricing improvements exceeded expectations during the second quarter and "that momentum carried into the third quarter."

The company's rig pricing on new contracts increased 10-15% versus first-quarter levels. Patterson-UTI noted that high quality rigs are sold out across regions outside the Permian with little to no idle equipment available for reactivation.

ProFrac reported second-quarter EBITDA 11% below Barclays estimates and 15% below consensus due to deployment costs on its 12th fleet, temporary deployment of an existing fleet outside the Permian, and severe weather across the Permian in June. The company said it will activate a 13th fleet by the end of the third quarter and that pricing momentum is gaining traction.

ProFrac secured approximately 110MW of contracted power generation capacity during the quarter, increasing from 240MW to 350MW across two separate projects.

Nabors posted second-quarter EBITDA 3% above Barclays estimates and 4% above consensus. The company introduced full-year 2026 EBITDA guidance of $920-930 million, 2% above the $905 million consensus at the midpoint.

Nabors expects 73 rigs in the third quarter versus 68 in the second quarter. The company said it expects its leading-edge pricing "will reach or exceed the mid-$30s as we progress through the balance of this year and into 2027" from the low-to-mid $30s currently.

Barclays maintained Overweight ratings on Patterson-UTI and ProFrac, and Equal Weight on Nabors.

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