Cowen maintained an Outperform rating on Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ: PTEN), and cut the price target to $22.00 (from $26.00), following 2Q15. Analyst Marci Bianchi believes PTEN will be among the first to benefit in a market upturn.

Bianchi commented, "Impressive cost management in pressure pumping drove ~1,100bps outperformance compared to guidance. While these margins are expected to dip slightly in 3Q as pricing continues to slide, the company clearly demonstrating a capability to manage through the cycle. Management's tone toward drilling turned a bit more positive, calling for a stabilization in the rig count. Investor attention now turns to how quickly rigs can be added in the back half of '15 and early '16. With recent crude price weakness, E&Ps are probably slower to put rigs back to work. Our forecast assumes a rig count recovery in 2016 and while we certainly expect Patterson to take part in the next newbuild cycle, we believe dayrates need to improve meaningfully from leading edge rates to justify economics. Near term headwinds aside, PTEN remains our top pick among the land drillers owing to its underappreciated rig fleet and leverage to the pumping market, which we believe will be among the first to benefit in a market upturn. We lower our price target from $26 to $22 which equates to 7x our 2016 EBITDA estimate. Reiterate Outperform."

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Shares of Patterson-UTI Energy closed at $17.13 yesterday.