Nine Energy Services (NYSE: NINE) reported Q4 EPS of ($0.57), $0.09 worse than the analyst estimate of ($0.48). Revenue for the quarter came in at $163.41 million versus the consensus estimate of $155.17 million.

“The fourth quarter was as anticipated, with revenue outperforming and adjusted EBITDA falling within Management’s original guidance range,” said Ann Fox, President and Chief Executive Officer, Nine Energy Service. “Additionally, we continued our strong working capital management into Q4, ending the year with a cash balance of $93.0 million even with interest, capex and the retention bonus associated with the Magnum acquisition during the fourth quarter.”

“As expected, we saw drilling and completion activity decline in Q4 due to holidays, weather and budget exhaustion. Market share for Nine remained stable across the majority of service lines, but we did see full quarter realizations of Q3 pricing concessions, which led to the majority of the margin compression quarter over quarter. Coiled Tubing has been the hardest hit service line from a pricing and activity perspective due to an over-supply of large diameter units coming into the market, coupled with a decrease in activity across regions.”

“Despite a very tough market in 2019, the execution of our strategic initiatives throughout the year has been very successful. We effectively commercialized our low-temperature dissolvable plug for Q1 2020, which continues to be run and trialed with many customers across multiple basins, providing Nine a first-mover advantage in the low-temp dissolvable market. Additionally, the timeline for our new high-temp dissolvable and composite plug remain on schedule. These technology developments were accomplished in large part because of our acquisition of Magnum and collaboration between both legacy teams around both IP design and materials science. We also successfully completed the sale of our Production Solutions segment, and closed wireline operations in Canada, which will be accretive to ROIC, adjusted EBITDA margins and cash generation. Our operational teams were able to once again prove their ability to grow market share in a declining activity environment, with Nine’s percentage of U.S. stages completed increasing over 100 basis points in 2019. I am also extremely proud of our employees as Nine ended the year with the lowest and best TRIR safety score in the Company’s history at 0.77.”

“Throughout 2018 and 2019 we re-shaped the Company to align with our strategy of being asset-light and building additional barriers to entry, which we believe will enable us to increase profitability, expand margins and increase free cash flow for the future. We have just begun to see our thesis materialize with strong cash generation in the second half of 2019, which we anticipate continuing into 2020 and beyond. 2020 capex will decrease by over 60%, which will serve as a sustainable run-rate as we transition the derivation of more of our top-line revenue contribution from completion tools.”

“Q1 2020 is off to a slower start versus this time in 2019, and we anticipate Q1 2020 being relatively flat to Q4 2019. Despite market conditions, we are very optimistic about Nine’s opportunity to differentiate with our unique positioning in the market to grow within our tools business. Our team has and will remain focused on driving value for our shareholders, customers and employees and will continue to follow our returns-based growth strategy into 2020.”

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Nine Energy Services (NINE) click here.