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what it is
Patterson-UTI sells drilling rigs, fracking crews, and drill bits to oil producers.
how it gets paid
Last year Patterson-Uti made $4.8B in revenue. Completion Services was the main engine at $2.88B, or 60% of sales.
why growth slowed
Revenue fell 9.8% last year. U.s. import tariffs have disrupted the world supply chain for goods and raised concerns about economic growth and demand for fossil fuels.
what just happened
PTEN posted -$0.02 EPS in Q4 2025, better than the -$0.08 estimate, but the business is still fighting a weak activity cycle.
At a glance
B+ balance sheet — decent shape, but not bulletproof
15/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
4.7% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
9.0% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 48/100 — below average
What they do
Patterson-UTI sells drilling rigs, fracking crews, and drill bits to oil producers.
Scale is the moat here. Patterson-UTI has 192 land rigs and about 3 million horsepower in pressure pumps, so your customer can hire one vendor for drilling and completion work. That matters because 92% of revenue comes from Completion Services and Drilling Services, and in a soft market the larger integrated provider usually gets the call first.
How they make money
$4.8B
annual revenue · their business grew -9.8% last year
Completion Services
$2.88B
Drilling Services
$1.54B
Drilling Products
$0.29B
Other
$0.10B
The products that matter
contract drilling and field work
Drilling Services
$4.8B revenue · entire story
it generated $4.8B last year by serving oil and gas producers. That's the whole bet: if drilling demand rises, results improve. If it falls, there is nowhere to hide.
100% of revenue
Key numbers
4.7%
dividend yield
You are getting paid to wait, but the payout sits next to negative operating margin, so treat it like a cycle bet, not free money.
0.9%
operating margin
Operating margin means what the business keeps after running itself. Negative means the core operation is not covering the full cost of doing business.
$1.2B
long-term debt
Debt is manageable in a boom and annoying in a slowdown. PTEN is carrying it while annual revenue fell 9.8%.
192
land rigs
This is real scale. In oil services, a bigger fleet gives you more shots at winning work when customers finally spend again.
Financial health
B+
strength
- balance sheet grade B+ — solid but not elite
- risk rank 4 — safer than 20% of stocks
- price stability 15 / 100
- long-term debt $1.2B (32% of capital)
- net profit margin 6.9% — keeps 7 cents of every dollar in revenue
- return on equity 11% — $0.11 profit for every $1 investors have put in
B+ — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in PTEN 3 years ago → it's now worth $4,330.
The index would have given you $14,770.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
beat estimates
PTEN posted -$0.02 EPS in Q4 2025, better than the -$0.08 estimate, but the business is still fighting a weak activity cycle.
The beat was real. Consensus says the loss was 75% better than expected. The quiet part is louder: annual revenue was $4.8B, down 9.8% vs. prior year, and still expects FY2026 EPS of -$0.05.
$1.2B
revenue
$0.02
eps
n/a
n/a
the number that mattered
The key number was the -$0.02 EPS loss versus a -$0.08 estimate, because it shows PTEN is holding up better than feared even while the market stays soft.
-
patterson-uti is standing up to a tepid market.the company does a lot of business in the north american, landbased, oil & gas exploration & production (e&p) sector.
-
activity in this sector cycled down in 2025.
-
e&p customers, wanting to protect their margins, have reduced the number of oil rigs in operation.
-
that’s largely due to soft oil prices, a result of a global supply/demand imbalance.
-
u.s. import tariffs have disrupted the world supply chain for goods and raised concerns about economic growth and demand for fossil fuels.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
PTEN's problem is specific, not theoretical: all $4.8B of revenue comes from a cyclical drilling market, while fiscal 2026 EPS is still estimated at -$0.05. If customer budgets stay tight, you own a lot of revenue with very little earnings underneath it.
high
oil and gas price weakness
PTEN sells activity, not a subscription. If commodity prices weaken, producers can cut drilling budgets fast.
100% of the current $4.8B revenue base depends on a cyclical field-services market
med
negative earnings lasting longer than expected
The fiscal 2026 EPS estimate is still -$0.05 after full-year 2025 EPS of -$0.08. If losses stick around, cheap-on-revenue stops helping.
a business with 0.5% return on capital has very little room for execution mistakes
med
balance sheet pressure in a longer downturn
B+ balance sheet grade is respectable, but $1.2B of long-term debt is still $1.2B when activity slows.
32% of capital is debt-backed, which matters more when earnings are already negative
med
the dividend doing more marketing than protection
A 4.7% yield helps the story. It does not repair a business with negative EPS and weak price stability.
if the cycle stays weak, income matters less than the underlying earnings gap
What would change our mind: EPS turning positive and staying positive for two consecutive quarters while drilling activity stops declining. If that does not happen, the stock stays a cycle trade that keeps asking you for patience.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
metric
EPS moving above zero
The cleanest sign of a real turn is simple: fiscal 2026 EPS is currently estimated at -$0.05. You want that number moving into positive territory.
trend
rig activity after the 2025 slowdown
2025 drilling activity declined. If that keeps happening, PTEN's revenue base stays large but low quality.
risk
operator spending discipline
E&P customers already reduced rig counts to protect margins. If they stay cautious, service pricing does not recover quickly.
calendar
next earnings for margin direction
With quarterly revenue at $1.2B and EPS still negative, the next report matters less for sales and more for whether losses are narrowing.
Analyst rankings
short-term outlook
average
momentum score 3 — in human-speak, analysts see a stock moving mostly with the tape, not leading it.
risk profile
below average
stability score 4 — more volatile than most, which fits a cyclical oilfield-services name.
chart momentum
below average
technical score 4 — the trend is not giving you much help from here.
earnings predictability
15 / 100
earnings predictability is low. Translation: the cycle decides more than management does.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutions have been net selling for 2 consecutive quarters — 173 buyers vs. 173 sellers in 3q2025. total institutional holdings: 0.4B shares. net selling for 2 quarters.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$4
$12
$7
current price
$8
target midpoint · +19% from current · 3-5yr high: $17 (+150% · 28% ann'l return)
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