ProFrac Holding Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

ProFrac Holding (NASDAQ:ACDC) reported third-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s third-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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Summary

ProFrac Holding reported Q3 2026 revenues of $511 million, a slight increase from the previous quarter, with adjusted EBITDA of $65 million, marking a decrease due to softer results in proppant production.

The company anticipates a tighter market in 2027 with limited equipment availability and is focused on maintaining long-term contracts rather than expanding fleet size.

Operational highlights include improved efficiencies in pumping operations and ongoing investment in equipment upgrades, such as e-blenders, despite challenges with lead times.

ProFrac’s strategic initiatives include addressing cost pressures through cost pass-throughs and enhancing manufacturing capabilities to support power generation infrastructure.

Management remains positive about the future market environment, supported by rising commodity prices and disciplined competitor behavior, and expects less seasonality in upcoming quarters.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR (Moderator)

Welcome to the ACDC Q3 2026 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Michael Mosino, Senior VP of Finance. Thank you, Michael. You may begin.

Michael Mosino (Senior VP of Finance)

Thank you, operator. Good morning everyone. We appreciate you joining us for ProFrac Holding’s conference call and webcast to review our results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026. With me today are Matt Wilkes, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman, and Austin Harbour, Chief Financial Officer. Following my remarks, management will provide high level commentary on the operational and financial highlights of the third quarter 2026 before opening up the call to your questions.

A replay of today’s call will be made available by webcast on the company’s website at psholdingscorp.com. More information on how to access the replay is included in the company’s earnings release. Please note that the information reported on this call speaks only as of today, November 5, 2026. You are advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay listening or transcript reading. Also, comments on this call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States federal securities laws, including management’s expectations of future financial and business performance.

These forward-looking statements reflect the current views of ProFrac Holding management and are not guarantees of future performance. Various risks, uncertainties, and contingencies could cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in management’s forward-looking statements. The listener or reader is encouraged to read ProFrac Holding’s Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which can be found at sec.gov or on the company’s investor relations website section under the SEC Filings tab, to better understand those risks, uncertainties, and contingencies.

The comments today also include certain non-GAAP financial measures, as well as other adjusted figures to exclude the contribution of Flotek. Additional details and reconciliations to the most directly comparable consolidated and GAAP financial measures are included in the earnings press release, which can be found on the company’s website. Now over to Mr. Matt Wilkes, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of ProFrac Holding.

Matthew Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Thank you, Michael, and hello everyone. I’ll kick off with some remarks on our overall performance, the broader market environment, and progress on our strategic priorities. I’ll then hand it over to Austin, who will take you through the segment results in more detail. The market backdrop heading into 2027 remains one we’re genuinely optimistic about. The structural case we’ve been building around domestic energy security only looks stronger with time. Further, our peer group has remained disciplined, with several dedicating their resources and attention to newer aspects of their position. At the same time, the third quarter was more volatile than we anticipated, with activity in pumping and proppant moving less in a straight line than we would have liked.

Starting with pumping, September brought more calendar white space than we anticipated entering the quarter, which weighed on our activity levels for the month. Part of that reflects more efficient completion designs, including the use of simul-frac completions across multiple wells. Simul-frac can create more open calendar days between jobs even as productivity improves. We’re encouraged that activity improved in October, and we expect to see what we consider a normalized fleet count in the fourth quarter.

Our efficiencies, including hours pumped per day, have improved even with some calendar white space due to customary year-end seasonality built into our fourth quarter plans. Due to market tightness driven by limited equipment availability and minimal indications of budget exhaustion, we expect less seasonality next quarter than what we have historically experienced. I would note that we also saw some cost pressure earlier in Q3 on the maintenance side, which began to normalize as we exited Q3.

Pricing remains one of the more important levers we have, and the environment for it continues to be favorable. Leading-edge pricing has been rising but remains well below the highs we saw at the cycle’s peak. We’re working to carry that through our contracts and RFP structures as deliberately as we can, and we are constructive on the impact we expect to see in 2027. In proppant, lower-than-anticipated throughput and sales, particularly in West Texas, weighed on results. We’re addressing that directly and are encouraged by the early improvement we’re seeing. More broadly, we’re taking a disciplined approach across our frac sand footprint. Specifically, we are focused on strategically increasing pricing and throughput. As we’ve said before, the operating leverage in this business becomes increasingly evident as we drive higher utilization across our strongest operations, and we continue to believe proppant is capable of improved free cash flow as those efficiencies show up.

Cash flows in the segment are also moving into a more sustainable position supported by the term loan amendment that Austin will cover. Picking up on the broader market, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, WTI came into the quarter at around $70 per barrel and exited near $100 with plenty of movement in between, rather than a steady climb. Since quarter end, prices have pushed even higher, touching $110. The underlying drivers haven’t changed. Tensions in the Middle East have continued, with renewed attacks on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks and knock-on effects such as elevated tanker and insurance costs.

The political outlook on both sides of the conflict makes near-term de-escalation far from certain. The bottom line is that we continue to see a sustained disruption to global supply capacity rather than a short-term shock, with recent market activity reinforcing that view. As we’ve said before, periods like this strengthen the case for reliable domestic production. For our business, that remains a meaningful advantage. After several choppy years in our industry, some of our larger, more diversified peers have shifted capital and attention toward power generation and other opportunities where higher returns are expected. We think this is exactly why the pumping market is poised for a period of tightness. Fewer dollars chasing frac equipment combined with the lead time required to stand up a fleet makes it harder for opportunistic entrants to replicate the capacity additions that have put pressure on pricing in past cycles.

At the same time, older equipment across the industry continues to retire, and much of it is being replaced, and the equipment that is being replaced is facing some of the longest lead times we have ever experienced, further tightening the market. To that end, higher commodity prices are supporting customer cash flow and their ability to keep programs moving through what’s typically a seasonally lower period, and have accelerated RFP discussions for 2027 work. Our approach through that process remains constructive. Our preference is to capture value durably through contracts and RFPs rather than chase the spot market with additional equipment. And that includes focusing on pass-throughs for inflation-sensitive items such as logistics, consumables, materials, and labor so that we’re not locked into a status quo margin over current costs.

We’re also seeing operators begin to look at contracting new-build fleets, and that lead time I just mentioned is part of why those conversations involve meaningful upfront commitments. We’re getting close to the point where pricing begins to support new-build economics, though to be clear, we think we have more room to go before we are squarely in that zone. Consistent with what we said last quarter, we will not build speculatively. We have an active dialogue with customers on new builds, and we’ve looked to contract on multi-year terms.

Our internal manufacturing capability gives us an advantage on timing, but customers are cognizant that they will need to act fast if they want to take an incremental fleet in the next calendar year. On the cost side, we’ve achieved the targets we set under our cost program introduced late last year, and we’re proud of that progress. At the same time, inflation across logistics, consumables, materials, and labor remains a real challenge, and we expect that pressure to continue into the next year. Labor is particularly tight, with data center and power generation buildouts creating meaningful competition for skilled technicians in our markets.

We view these pressures as an ongoing cost of doing business, not something we can fully eliminate through efficiency gains. That makes passing through cost increases as they occur, rather than waiting for periodic resets, all the more important. As I mentioned previously, lead times are and will remain challenging. We’re seeing longer lead times on new equipment broadly across our industry, particularly engines, as capacity has shifted to support power generation demand. This has affected the pace of our engine upgrade program somewhat, though it remains underway, as well as the development of our e-blender transition. Thankfully, our internal manufacturing capability continues to give us more control over timing.

Speaking of our manufacturing business, it is benefiting from the broader buildout of power infrastructure across the industry. We’re seeing this translate into tangible demand, including power generation packaging work for other operators expanding their own capabilities, and rebuild work for another industry participant. These relationships are deepening and creating a source of sustainable demand. It’s a genuine strength for our business, and we’re proud of the work our manufacturing team continues to deliver.

On e-blenders, we expect all units to be delivered by year end and most units to be working by year end, with some deployments carrying into early 2027. The efficiency benefits we outlined when we introduced this program, including lower blender capex and operating costs, continue to show up as more of these units come online. Through all of this, our vertically integrated model and asset management platform remains central to how we think about our competitive position, not just this quarter, but across the cycle. And with that, over to Austin to walk through the financial impact of the quarter in more detail.

Austin Harbour (Chief Financial Officer)

Thanks, Matt. In the third quarter, revenues were $511 million, up modestly from $498 million in the second quarter of 2026. We generated $65 million of adjusted EBITDA with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 13% compared to $69 million, or 14% of revenue, in Q2. The change was driven by softer results in proppant production and, to a lesser extent, in stimulation services, partially offset by a stronger contribution from Flotek. Free cash flow was positive $14 million in the third quarter, an improvement from negative $8 million in Q2.

Turning to our segments, stimulation services revenues were $421 million in the third quarter versus $430 million in the second quarter of 2026. Adjusted EBITDA in Q3 was $37 million versus $39 million in Q2. Margins of 9% were comparable to Q2. Results reflected the September white space Matt described. While our fleet count for the quarter overall remained broadly consistent with Q2, pump hours per fleet softened in September after running near some of our best levels of the year earlier in the quarter.

Lower cost absorption due to a less efficient calendar, coupled with increased costs on materials and certain operating expenses, offset price increases realized in the quarter. Looking ahead, utilization improved in October, and we expect the calendar to remain relatively strong in the fourth quarter with customary year-end seasonality. Pricing, meanwhile, contributed modestly to the quarter, though the benefit from this year’s increases is still working its way through on a staggered basis as individual contracts reset.

We expect that contribution to build through the fourth quarter, and pricing remains a key driver behind the sequential improvement we’re expecting as we go into 2027. On the cost side, we saw elevated materials, maintenance, and labor costs and are closely monitoring labor, logistics, and equipment as we move forward. Q3 proppant production generated $101 million of revenue versus $121 million in the second quarter of 2026. Approximately 45% of volumes were sold to third-party customers during the third quarter versus 31% in Q2. Adjusted EBITDA for the proppant production segment was $2.4 million for the third quarter compared to $6.2 million. On a margin basis, EBITDA margins were 2.4% in the third quarter versus 5.2% in the second quarter. Total volumes were approximately 2.5 million tons.

West Texas has remained highly competitive on pricing, resulting in lower sales volumes and throughput. Lower operating leverage and increased costs negatively impacted margins in the quarter. Our manufacturing segment generated third-quarter revenues of $53 million, up from $48 million in the second quarter. Approximately 17% of segment revenues were generated from third-party sales, consistent with the second quarter. Adjusted EBITDA for the manufacturing segment was $6 million and roughly in line with Q2’s results. The segment is benefiting from the power-related activity Matt described, and we’re pleased with the trajectory there.

Flotek generated third-quarter revenues of $117 million, up from the $102 million reported in Q2. Approximately 49% of segment revenues were generated from third-party sales compared to approximately 42% in Q2. Adjusted EBITDA for Flotek was $22 million, or 19% of revenue, up from $19 million in the second quarter. Third-quarter selling, general, and administrative expenses were $45 million compared to $44 million in Q2. Cash capital expenditures of approximately $40 million in the third quarter were up from $32 million in the second quarter of 2026. In Q4, maintenance capital could decrease slightly while growth capital moves higher, driven largely by the e-blender and engine upgrades we discussed earlier in the year. With three-quarters of spending now behind us in 2026, we are tightening our full-year capital expenditure guidance to a range of $160 to $180 million including Flotek, versus our prior range of $155 million to $185 million.

Excluding Flotek, we expect capex to be in the range of $145 million to $165 million for the year. Turning to the balance sheet, total cash and cash equivalents as of September 30, 2026 were approximately $44 million, including approximately $25 million attributable to Flotek. Total liquidity at quarter-end was approximately $97 million, including $79 million available under the ABL. Borrowings under the ABL credit facility ended the quarter at $148 million, a decrease from $162 million at second-quarter end. On the balance sheet, we have continued to take a disciplined and proactive approach to managing our liquidity and debt maturities.

As we discussed in August ’23, we closed a new $300 million asset-based revolving credit facility with Eclipse Business Capital, increasing our commitments, improving advance rates, and extending the maturity profile of our revolving facility. In September, we amended our Alpine Term Loan Agreement, extending the maturity to February 2030 and eliminating scheduled amortization payments through the first quarter of 2028. Scheduled payments then resume at $10 million per quarter.

The amendment also allows us, at our election, to pay approximately 60% of interest expense in kind at current rates for the next 12 months, adding that amount to principal while requiring quarterly payments of excess free cash flow. In connection with that transaction, $60 million of term loans held by affiliated lenders was repaid and canceled in exchange for Flotek shares held by a company subsidiary, eliminating $60 million of principal balance on the term loan.

Taken together, these actions extend our debt maturity profile, reduce near-term scheduled principal and cash interest payments, and provide additional financial flexibility. At quarter end, we had approximately $1.05 billion of principal debt outstanding. Of this amount, only $113 million comes due over the next 12 months, with the majority of our maturities remaining concentrated in 2029 and beyond. With that, I will now turn the call back over to Matt for closing remarks.

Matthew Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Thanks, Austin. Before we open the call for questions, let me close with a few key takeaways. We experienced some volatility in the third quarter despite an improving market backdrop, but are encouraged by the trends we’ve seen so far in Q4. The actions we took on the balance sheet this quarter, from the Eclipse facility to the Flotek term loan and the Alpine term loan amendment and the $60 million affiliate loan exchange, extend our maturity profile and give us added flexibility.

We continue to invest in what differentiates us, including our manufacturing business and our equipment. Our vertically integrated model remains central to our competitive position, not just this quarter, but across the cycle. Looking ahead, our focus remains on execution, advancing our upgrade program, strengthening our financial position, and positioning ProFrac Holding to capture the opportunity as the market tightens. We remain genuinely excited about the setup heading into 2027, with what we see as a tight market and a disciplined peer group set against a structural case for domestic energy security that continues to strengthen. With that, I will now turn the call over to the operator for Q&A.

OPERATOR (Moderator)

Thank you. We’ll now be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment please while we poll for questions.

Our first question is from John Daniel with Daniel Energy. Please proceed with your question.

John Daniel (Analyst)

Hey guys. Good morning, Matt. Just want to focus on next year, if you will. In terms of the tight market at this point, do you prefer to reactivate fleets, or would you rather sort of play the price game? And how are you thinking about price versus volume? If you could tell us what you’re thinking for next year.

Matthew Wilks (Executive Chairman)

It’s pretty— I think attrition across the industry is pretty aggressive, and there’s just no equipment left in the market. And then there’s a high preference for fuel-efficient fleets. And so everything that’s available is working, and so we’re in a really good spot. We’ve been able to push pricing, continue to push pricing, and at this point, if there’s customers that are willing to sign long-term agreements, then we can look at activating fleets and building gas fleets.

But with that being said, we’re keeping status quo. There are situations where we may see simul-frac fleets split into zippers. And so from that standpoint, you might see a fleet count increase per se, but there’s not expected to be additions of additional equipment without replacement— you know, without replacement pricing or new-build pricing.

John Daniel (Analyst)

Okay. And a follow-on, Matt, is, you know, a lot of the land drillers the last week or so talked about more inquiries from public operators for incremental rigs next year. I’m curious, are you getting calls from existing public operators looking for incremental fleets for next year?

Matthew Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Without a doubt there is. And it’s not just spot work, it’s dedicated work as well. There’s just not enough horsepower to go around, and so it’s creating a great environment for the service side. And we’re already seeing it in Q4. I’m pretty confident that 2027 will see positive net income, and we’re seeing signs of it in Q4 already.

John Daniel (Analyst)

Okay, that’s all I got. Thanks for including me.

Matthew Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Definitely. Thank you.

OPERATOR (Moderator)

Once again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Our next question is from Saurabh Pant with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.

Saurabh Pant (Analyst)

Thank you. Good morning, Matt and Austin. Matt, I was intrigued by your comments on pricing not getting squishy there, but kind of getting there a little closer to new-build economics, which is very interesting. Maybe, Matt, if you don’t mind, just give us a little context on how much pricing came down from the peak of, call it early 2023, to the trough. How much have we recovered? And then what kind of returns would you be looking at if you were to pull the trigger on a new-build fleet?

I’m guessing it’s on the gas side of things, right? There’s a lot of demand on that. But maybe walk us through that dynamic a little bit.

Matthew Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Yeah. So from a, like a per-hour rate standpoint, you know, from prior peak to the trough was about a 50% reduction in hourly rates to the customer. But you’ve got to put it in context. In 2022, you know, the average pump time per fleet was running in the low to mid 400 hours per month. Now you’re seeing everything in the 550 to 600 range from a pump time standpoint. So the dollar per hour and the costs and the revenue aren’t the same. It’s accelerated the wear and tear on your equipment.

And so, you know, even though it’s diluted a lot of your costs, a lot of your cost to run the fleet, what it’s done is it’s shortened the life of the equipment as well. So we can’t forget about that piece. We’ve got to make sure that that’s recovered as well. But as far as from the trough to where we are now, it’s bounced back from the trough, probably about 50 to 60% from there. There’s still room to go to reach prior peaks. And, you know, from a timing standpoint, I don’t know if it gets back to the peak or what time frame it would, but what I can say is the prior peak had spare capacity on the market. And what we see going forward is there’s no spare capacity. There’s long lead times on equipment. You know, in ’22, you could rebuild engines that were on the sidelines, you could rebuild transmissions, rebuild power ends.

A lot of that is not available. And just the options available to you are pretty limited going forward. So you’ve got to work with what you’ve got. And I think that we’ll continue to see, even if fleet count stayed where it’s at now, it would continue to tighten because of the limited availability in the supply chain. And so we’re very encouraged by what this means for the path forward. It also creates a scenario where if you do have spare pumps, you’re more likely to reserve those for redundancy on your existing customer relationships rather than trying to deploy another fleet. And just because you got to take care of the customers you’ve got.

And so trying to add a fleet and get spread too thin just because you can and you have a few extra pumps, you would rather make sure that you’ve got the depth in your replacement cycle with your maintenance teams to make sure that if you’ve got an engine issue and have to replace an engine, you may not have that engine, transmissions, power ends. It’s a really, really tight market on the component side. So when you look at building in the redundancy for your business, your likelihood of adding a fleet isn’t as appealing as keeping the redundancy that you need to keep your footprint that you already have.

This is a different kind of tightness than what we’ve seen in prior cycles. So the majority, I’d say about 80% of the fleets in the market right now have gas capabilities and probably a small single-digit percentage of the overall fleet is all gas. For direct-drive gas engines, you know, of course there’s electric fleets, gas fleets, dual fuel. The majority of the industry is dual fuel. And then depending on what your substitution rate is and whether you get paid for that or not, sometimes operators will just pay you for the horsepower, and so you get a material premium for that type of equipment.

But if you have—typically if they just pay you all at once and say, hey, here’s your horsepower rate—there will be a minimum requirement for substitution and penalties if you don’t hit that. But if it’s not fully absorbed in the cost of the horsepower, the alternative to that is that you charge for substitution for DGE so that your incentives are aligned. And, you know, you get a base horsepower rate plus a dual-fuel surcharge. It changes from customer to customer, but in any event, the substitution is paid for. It’s just whether it’s built in from day one in the full horsepower rate with a minimum threshold or paid for improved substitution.

But one of the things we look at is benchmarking against what a diesel fleet would cost, including the diesel, to establish what a fair rate is for a fuel-efficient fleet. How much is the diesel worth that we’re saving, and that’s the value proposition. We’d like to get 100% of it. But these are partnerships, love our customers, and there’s not too many ways for anybody in the industry to really get a good fuel hedge. It’s hard. You can hedge diesel, but then you got to figure out, like, well, how efficient is my fleet going to be?

How much diesel am I going to consume? And so you’re always going to be exposed even if you do hedge it. And who wants to hedge it at five or six bucks. And so I don’t think it’s lost on us or our peers exactly what these fleets are worth, and it’s just coming to a fair agreement with your customer that recognizes the overall fuel savings.

OPERATOR (Moderator)

Thank you. We have reached the end of the question and answer session. I would like to turn the floor back over to Matthew D. Wilkes for closing comments.

Matthew Wilks (Executive Chairman)

We appreciate everybody for joining our call. Very excited about the outlook. We’re seeing everything, you know, materialize very quickly right now, and I cannot wait to get on our next call and tell you exactly why we’re excited. So thank you.

OPERATOR (Moderator)

This concludes today’s teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

Disclaimer: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, there may be errors or omissions in this automated transcription. For official company statements and financial information, please refer to the company’s SEC filings and official press releases. Corporate participants’ and analysts’ statements reflect their views as of the date of this call and are subject to change without notice.