NINE (NINE) Q1 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Greetings, and welcome to Nine Energy Service First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to your host, Heather Schmidt, Interim Chief Financial Officer. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Nine Energy Service earnings conference call to discuss our results for the first quarter of 2026. With me today is Ann Fox, President and Chief Executive Officer. We appreciate your participation. Some of our comments today may include forward-looking statements reflecting Nine's views about future events. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. These risks and uncertainties can cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. We advise listeners to review our earnings release and the risk factors discussed in our earnings file filed with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason. Our comments today also include non-GAAP financial measures. Additional details, including reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are also included in our first quarter earnings release, which can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website. On March 5, 2026, we emerged from bankruptcy and the company applied fresh start accounting on such date. The application of fresh start accounting resulted in a new basis of accounting and the company becoming a new entity for financial reporting purposes, which is referred to as the successor. The company prior to the application of fresh start accounting is referred to as the predecessor. For simplicity and to reduce confusion for this call, we will be reporting the full quarter and combining these 2 periods. All SEC documents, including the 10-Q and earnings release have the periods reported separately and are available for your reference on our Investor Relations website. I will now turn the call over to Ann.

Thank you, Heather, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss Nine's first quarter 2026 results. As you can imagine, this was an unusual and complex quarter as we entered and emerged from Chapter 11 and began implementing fresh start accounting effective March 5. During this transition, we experienced some customer and vendor disruption, completed the revaluation of our assets and implemented other required reporting changes to begin this new chapter for Nine. In addition, we had a $5.5 million noncash inventory write-down that negatively affected net income and adjusted EBITDA for the quarter. To ensure consistency with prior period reporting, we have not added the $5.5 million inventory write-down back to reported adjusted EBITDA. Importantly, we believe these issues are behind us. We have not experienced any material customer or vendor losses, and we expect improved and more normalized quarterly run rate beginning in the second quarter and continuing through the remainder of 2026. Following this process, the company has been transformed in a meaningful way, and I am confident that we are now in a stronger financial position as we begin this next chapter for Nine. Turning to Q1. Revenue for the quarter was $130 million with reported adjusted EBITDA of $3 million, which included the $5.5 million inventory write-down. Completion activity was down in Q1 compared to Q4 due to weather impacts early in the quarter. Despite a flat U.S. rig count, pricing across our technology and service offerings remained mostly unchanged quarter-over-quarter. Natural gas prices remained constructive during the first quarter, averaging approximately $4.70 compared to $3.73 in the fourth quarter. But recently, prices trended down and are trading below $3. Lower 48 activity responded to the supportive gas price environment, most notably in the Haynesville Basin, which added approximately 25 rigs over the past 4 quarters and ended Q1 with 55 rigs, whereas the Northeast has remained relatively flat. Nine is well positioned across all of its service lines to capitalize on growth opportunities in the gas-levered basins. We recently opened a wireline facility in the Haynesville. This expansion enables us to directly participate in what we believe will be sustained natural gas-driven activity in both the near and medium term. We plan to leverage Nine's established customer relationships, strong reputation across service lines and our proven track record to gain traction and capture profitable market share. While industry activity and pricing were relatively steady in the first quarter, our revenue and profitability were negatively impacted by a combination of severe weather in January and February, which caused operational inefficiencies, frac delays and white space in the calendar. These impacts were most pronounced within our Wireline division in the Northeast region, but also impacted Permian operations where all of our service lines operate. We did see a normalization of operations and financial run rate during March, and we expect this improved operating cadence to continue into Q2. We saw minimal impact to our international business in relation to the Iranian conflict in Q1 and thus far in Q2. However, we are monitoring the situation closely as events unfold. Notwithstanding the conflict, the international tools business continues to perform well and remains an important part of our growth strategy. In 2025, we delivered approximately 14% sequential growth in international tool revenue, driven primarily by sales in the UAE, Argentina and Saudi Arabia. The largest revenue declines in Q1 were seen in wireline and completion tools, both of which have significant market share in the Northeast and had severe weather impacts in January and February. Additionally, completion tool revenue was negatively impacted by the minimal international disruptions mentioned previously. Cementing and coiled tubing revenue were both relatively flat and incremental revenue in the Haynesville was able to offset some of the weather impacts in the Permian. Before turning it over to Heather, I want to acknowledge the outstanding execution of our engineering and operational teams in completion tools. The Nine team has now surpassed 500,000 Scorpion plugs sold, a meaningful milestone that highlights the quality of the Scorpion product and the sustained demand we've seen in the market. We expect to build on this momentum with updated versions of the Scorpion plug and dissolvable Stinger plugs as well as new tools to enhance our existing portfolio. I would now like to turn the call over to Heather to walk through detailed financial information.

Thank you, Ann. As of March 31, 2026, Nine's cash and cash equivalents were $11.2 million with $35.7 million of availability under the revolving credit facility, resulting in a total liquidity position of $46.9 million as of March 31, 2026. On March 31, the company had $90.4 million of borrowings under its revolving credit facility. And on April 28, 2026, the company borrowed an additional $5 million. During the first quarter, revenue totaled $130 million with adjusted gross profit of $13.8 million. During the first quarter, we completed 1,022 cementing jobs, an increase of approximately 4% as compared to the fourth quarter of 2025. The average blended revenue per job decreased by approximately 2%. Cementing revenue for the quarter was $53.4 million, an increase of approximately 1%. During the first quarter, we completed 6,890 wireline stages, a decrease of approximately 4%. The average blended revenue per stage was down by approximately 1%. Wireline revenue for the quarter was $23.9 million, a decrease of approximately 5%. For completion tools, we completed 19,422 stages, a decrease of approximately 10%. Completion tool revenue was $25.8 million, a decrease of approximately 10%. During the first quarter, our coiled tubing days worked increased by approximately 28%, with the average blended day rate decreasing by approximately 18%. Coiled tubing revenue was $26.9 million, an increase of approximately 4%. During the first quarter, the company reported general and administrative expense of $17.7 million. Depreciation and amortization expense was $8.2 million. Income taxes for the quarter were approximately breakeven as a modest benefit in the successor period largely offset a modest provision in the predecessor period, with both driven primarily by state and non-U.S. taxes. For the first quarter, the company reported net cash used in operating activities of $12.4 million. The average DSO for Q1 was 61 days. CapEx spend during Q1 was $5.6 million. Today, we anticipate full year CapEx will range between $20 million to $30 million and annual cash interest expense will be approximately $7 million. I will now turn it back to Ann.

Thank you, Heather. With the recent increase in oil prices, the near-term outlook for U.S. land activity has improved. That said, we have not seen material changes to customer plans so far in the second quarter. We believe operators remain disciplined and measured as they assess the durability of higher prices and evaluate potential adjustments in real time. We are seeing early indications that completion activity could increase, particularly through the drawdown of DUCs given the relatively short cycle times and the ability to quickly monetize current oil prices. There have also been indications that incremental rigs could be added. However, the timing and magnitude of those increases remain uncertain. The conflict in Iran reminds us of the critical role of U.S. shale production from both an energy security and reliability standpoint and underscores Nine's strategy of being a premier completions provider in the U.S. At Nine, we remain focused on profitable growth across both our domestic and international businesses. We continue to see strong long-term opportunities in our international tools business. While the current geopolitical environment could lead to short-term disruptions in the Middle East, our presence there remains a critical part of our growth strategy. Operationally, we are well positioned for any incremental activity across U.S. basins, and our portfolio remains well balanced across commodities. Turning to the second quarter. We do not anticipate a meaningful change in U.S. rig count. However, we expect improved financial performance driven by less weather-related downtime and continued operational efficiencies. As a result, we expect both revenue and adjusted EBITDA to increase sequentially from the first quarter. We currently project second quarter revenue in the range of $136 million to $146 million. Given the complexity of first quarter reporting, we are providing adjusted EBITDA guidance for the second quarter to improve visibility as we return to more normalized reporting. For Q2, we are projecting adjusted EBITDA of $10 million to $15 million. Overall, Nine remains operationally strong and financially flexible, allowing us to execute on our strategic priorities while navigating a dynamic market environment. We continue to prioritize disciplined execution and profitable growth, and we remain confident in the long-term value creation potential of the business. We will now open up the call for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Steve Ferazani with Sidoti & Company.

Appreciate the time this morning. Obviously it's been a very busy period for you.

Yes, [indiscernible] new chapter.

Absolutely. When we think about the Q2 guide, the stronger sequential improvement, is there anything in play there other than the lack of the severe seasonality you saw in Q1 in operating inefficiencies? Is that essentially flat pricing, flat activity? Or do you see any sort of green shoots there in Q2?

Yes. No. I mean I think you'll see those green shoots in Q3 and perhaps we don't see the shape to Q4 that we typically see, just given the rough start for the industry in Q1. So it's a great question, but you've obviously seen Conoco come out with their rig add in the back half. You've seen Diamondback come out. We've got a couple of other operators that have been clear about incremental activity. But that -- you won't see that necessarily reflected in those Q2 numbers. That's just a result of normalized our reporting and operating activity. So those incremental dollars that you may be speaking about, those may show up for the industry in the back half.

Got it. And then in your prepared remarks...

And just remember, when we -- you complete those DUCs, you're getting that product to market roughly within 30 days. So...

That's what I was going to ask about...

Yes.

Yes. Are you seeing that? You're not the first to mention DUC completions as well as potentially refracs. Are you seeing better indications that could be coming sooner?

We are.

Okay. In terms of the results we saw in Q1, it looks like primarily the weakness was in wireline and tools, which obviously had the Northeast exposure and some in the Rockies, primarily the results we saw in Q1 seasonality?

Well, actually, no. I mean, the first time -- well, certainly ever in my life and my employees' life that we saw the Ohio River frozen. And we had a record number of days underneath freezing. So we really had some catastrophic weather impacts that even for January are abnormal. So that was significant -- it was a significant impact to that region.

Got it. Coming out of this reset, CapEx higher than it's been in the last couple of years, according to your guidance, how much of that is catch-up investments or how much of that is growth investments for new opportunities you're seeing?

Yes. I mean I would say a good chunk of that is catch-up. And we're -- that's something that we're going to layer in over time, and that's something that we need to do. We feel the business is very well positioned here. And so clearly, we wouldn't be putting that CapEx into the business if we didn't see a need and we didn't see an opportunity. So we're very much looking forward to this next chapter, both organic and inorganic growth opportunities.

That's helpful. And then just if I get one more in, in terms of cash flow. Obviously, Q1 was particularly noisy. How well you think you're positioned to generate cash moving forward? You have -- you're coming out with pretty good liquidity. Do you see yourselves as a cash flow generator moving forward?

I think when we have normalized years, yes. Of course, bankruptcy is not cheap even for smaller companies. It's an enormously expensive process. And so yes, on a regular year, absolutely, you're going to see the business generate cash flow. There is a lot of noise given not just Q1, but really that bankruptcy. But to answer your question on a regular basis, if you look at us in '27 and beyond, we would definitely see some very nice cash flow generation.

Our next question is from John Daniel with Daniel Energy Partners.

I know you alluded to the anecdotes on the incremental rigs by some of the operators. I'm just curious, Ann, if you could speak to -- and I know you don't want to quantify this, but just the level of inquiries, inbound phone calls you all have had, say, the last 1 to 2 weeks versus maybe 2 to 3 months ago? And then as the follow-on...

I mean 3 months ago, nobody was doing anything, right, even 2 months ago. I think there was a view that this was perhaps in-and-out operation like the one we saw with Absolute Resolve in Venezuela. And I think it's taken folks, particularly in this area of the country a bit to realize that perhaps this is more protracted and there's a little bit more durability to the commodity price. And so it's -- I don't want to say it's -- our customers are stampeding or whatnot. But it's definitely -- you see the behavior shift relatively at the same time. And so I would say that they're utilizing the equipment they have out there in different ways. And they are now, as you know, thinking about DUCs, thinking about incremental rig adds. And especially, we're starting to see a lot of noise from larger private companies that we hadn't previously seen. So that's that -- to answer you specifically, I would say, yes, the noise and volume has picked up considerably over the past 2 weeks, whereas 2 months ago, it was nothing.

How would you say that the rise in demand, obviously, it changes one's confidence. How are you thinking internally about pricing strategy across your various services as you roll into the back half of the year, not looking for a magnitude of...?

I mean -- yes, it's a great question. I mean we're at our strategic offsite with our management team now. And there is wage inflation. There is -- I mean, people say, "Oh, well, the U.S. has been so insulated from these prices. They haven't felt it." Well, that's just because everybody has inventory on the shelves. Our cost of goods will go up and our prices to our customers across the board need to go up, full stop.

Okay. Fair enough. And then the last one, is there any appetite to maybe prosecute some small tuck-in deals within your core products? Or do you wait and see?

I mean we always have an appetite for tuck-ins. I think we're looking for things on a more transformational level.

Our next question is from Dave Storms with Stonegate.

Yes, of course. Maybe I want to start, you mentioned in your prepared remarks that you're expecting operational efficiencies to drive some of the improvements in Q2. Just curious as to how you think about the runway here and maybe where you see those operational efficiencies playing out through the back half of the year? Or should we just expect a nice step-up into Q2?

So the step-up in Q2 is, I mean, very -- put in very simple terms, when weather is bad and operators are not active, we're still carrying all that labor cost, right? So a huge chunk of our COGS is labor. And you don't just -- we can't just lose that cost when there's no activity. So that's a very real challenge for all of us in the service sector is you're not exiting employees for 4 weeks. So it's -- that's the real challenge and the drag on the margin is absolutely enormous. And so we're not seeing that now, and we don't anticipate that coming forward. I think the other thing when you go through a Chapter 11 is if you have a really good team like we do, they'll take that as an opportunity not just to do things like revalue assets, but to really rethink approach and strategy. And there's a lot of excitement now around this new chapter, and I think that's put a lot of energy back into the company is to really think about careful growth, how do we do that? How do we execute that, both on the organic side and the inorganic side. And that's a shift of focusing on survival and starting to focus on thriving. And that's very, very exciting, very good for morale. So very much looking forward to the next step here. And that flows through the organization. And so we're really excited about a number of different things we're doing in every service line to increase those operational efficiencies.

Understood. Appreciate that. Thinking about the busy quarter that you guys had, are there any lingering impacts from some of the steps taken, I think in legal fees, any additional write-downs? Or is everything pretty much cleaned up and now it's just getting your vendors back in a row and back to business as normal?

Yes. I mean, so no, we are -- our customers are intact, our vendors are intact, and I wouldn't expect cleanups. And if we have cleanups, those will be legitimate add-backs if there's any lingering costs. So you will not -- I guess it's a long way of saying you will not see that very messy quarter that you saw in Q1 occur again. So you'll see normalized regular way of reporting moving forward. We were enormously pleased to enter and exit bankruptcy and relist all within the same quarter. And of course, that just creates a lot of noise. So to answer your question specifically, you won't see that again.

That's perfect. And maybe one more for me. With the commodity price environment, how are you balancing working what's in front of you versus maybe focusing on downhole innovations?

It's a great question. So we spent a lot of time actually over the past year, bifurcating our engineering team very specifically between sustaining engineering and R&D as we're building out really a state-of-the-art R&D and test facility, probably, I would say, in North America, both Canada and the Lower 48 will be like top-tier facility. And so we were hyper focused on that last year as well as adding some very key engineering talent so that we could hit the ground running, and we expect to deploy a lot of differentiated tools starting this summer as well as entirely new tools. So we weren't asleep as we entered this process. We were thoughtful about it, and that's really coming to fruition. And I would say also on the cement side and our R&D facilities there, we are also thinking about expanding that engineering capacity so that we can be on the forefront of -- both of those R&D fronts. So I'm really excited about that. And we've also got some great stuff coming out of our Norway team. So we're looking forward to some expansion of their product line also in the international markets. So very, very confident and very pleased with our engineering team.

We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Ann Fox, CEO for Nine Energy Service for closing remarks.

Thank you for your participation in the call today, and thank you to our employees, our E&P partners and our investors. Thank you.

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.