Liberto, Inc. (NYSE: LBRT) reported Q2 EPS of $0.71, $0.13 better than the analyst estimate of $0.58. Revenue for the quarter came in at $628 million versus the consensus estimate of $549.66 million.

Guidance:

(Emphasis StreetInsider)

"Working in concert with customers, Liberty continues to drive improvements in operational efficiency across the entire fleet. This performance translates to strong demand for Liberty’s high efficiency fleets that deliver differential frac services. Premium service quality, coupled with basin diversity, positions the Company to believe that it will continue to generate strong returns on capital employed regardless of how the market unfolds in the next few quarters. Liberty was built for long-term success as illustrated by the trailing 12-months Pre-Tax Return on Capital Employed (“ROCE”)3 of 43%.

Liberty’s operations in the Permian continue to grow and thrive. The developing imbalance for frac services in the Permian has not yet impacted Liberty fleets. As always, Liberty will work in partnership with our customers to navigate the ever-changing oil and gas landscape. During the second quarter meaningful local sand volumes came on-line. This trend continues in the third quarter, driving down well costs for our customers.

With the roughly flat pricing environment year to date, Liberty expects annualized Adjusted EBITDA per average active fleet between $22 million and $27 million for each quarter of 2018. Unusual weather and logistics challenges drove the first quarter below this expected range. The second quarter had no unusual exogenous challenges. Liberty delivered simply stellar operational efficiency with an unusually low number of non-pumping days for the dedicated fleets. The result was $28.0 million annualized Adjusted EBITDA per average active fleet, which is above the expected average range.

Mr. Wright added, “We are thrilled with our second quarter results and we always strive for stellar performance. However, reality tends to bring schedule and throughput challenges that are not always avoidable. We are presently seeing more than normal dedicated fleet schedule challenges, likely pushing our results for the third quarter to the lower end of our expected $22 million to $27 million range.”

“Liberty’s strong financial results, favorable outlook and strong balance sheet, support returning capital to our stockholders. Therefore, we are excited to announce the introduction of a regular cash dividend,” said Mr. Wright. “Liberty will continue to evaluate additional ways to return capital to stockholders, including stock repurchases and special dividends. Liberty is committed to creating long-term stockholder value via our balanced strategy of compounding shareholder value by reinvesting cash flow at high rates of return and returning cash to shareholders as appropriate. We are excited by the growth opportunities in front of us and this modest dividend will not constrain future growth,” concluded Mr. Wright."

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