Industry Outlook And Key Trends: Liberty Energy’s management emphasized the shift towards low-emissions, capital-efficient natural gas-fueled technologies in the fracking industry. In the recent past, crude oil prices have gained strength while natural gas prices have gone south. However, the divergence did not affect the demand for North American frac services. LBRT expects global energy demand to rise, leading to a “constructive” frac industry outlook in North America. You may read more about the company in our previous article here.
Q2 Forecast: LBRT will continue to focus on power generation to the CNG fuel supply that supports its digiFleet deployments. In Q2, the company expects “low double-digit” revenue growth based on stable pricing and increased efficiency. The company also expects strong cash flow generation in 2024. You can also read more about LBRT’s fracking activities in our report here.
Fundamental Metrics Remained Steady In Q1: LBRT’s revenues remained nearly unchanged in Q1 quarter-over-quarter, while its adjusted EBITDA recorded a 3% fall. So, the rate of its quarterly declines (on revenues and EBITDA) decelerated in Q1 versus the previous quarter. The company’s debt-to-equity, however, deteriorated marginally to 0.09x as of March 31, 2024, from 0.08x a quarter earlier. This was because it drew on its credit facility during the quarter. As announced in January, it increased the share repurchase authorization limit to $750 million. Since 2022, it has repurchased and retired 12.5% of its shares.
Thanks for reading the LBRT Take Three, designed to give you three critical takeaways from LBRT’s earnings report. Soon, we will present a second update on LBRT’s earnings, highlighting its current strategy, news, and notes we extracted from our deeper dive.
