Earnings Labs

ProFrac Holding Corp. (ACDC)

Q4 2025 Earnings Call· Thu, Mar 12, 2026

$7.24

+1.26%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

-8.76%

1 Week

-5.60%

1 Month

-15.95%

vs S&P

-20.14%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the ProFrac Holding Corp. Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Michael Messina, SVP of Finance. Thank you. You may begin.

Michael Messina

Management

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for ProFrac Holding Corp. conference call and webcast to review our results of the fourth quarter and year ended 12/31/2025. With me today are Matt Wilks, Executive Chairman, Ladd Wilks, Chief Executive Officer, and Austin Harbour, Chief Financial Officer. Following my remarks, management will provide high-level commentary on the operational and financial highlights of the fourth quarter and full year 2025 before opening up the call to your questions. A replay of today's call will be made available via webcast on the company's website at pfholdingscorp.com. You want to know 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, Thursday, March. You are advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time on 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 Corp. 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 Corp.'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. I will now turn the call over to Matthew D. Wilks.

Matthew D. Wilks

Management

Thank you, Michael. I will kick off with some high-level remarks about our recent performance, market outlook, and strategic initiatives. Ladd will expand on the performance of our businesses, and finally, Austin will discuss our financial performance. Our results in the fourth quarter improved from Q3 with total adjusted EBITDA increasing 49% on an improvement across our two largest segments: stimulation services and proppant production. This performance was driven by better-than-anticipated activity levels, strong operational execution with optimized uptime, and the early benefits of our cost and capital management initiatives. Notably, our proppant production segment delivered exceptional results, benefiting from increased volumes and improved logistics efficiency that helped us maintain strong margins. Ladd will elaborate on this in a few minutes. Looking at 2025 as a whole, the year presented a challenging backdrop for the completions industry. Tariff-driven economic uncertainty and OPEC's decision to increase supply in early April rattled commodity prices and prompted widespread operator deferrals of near-term activity. Throughout the summer and early fall, operators remained cautious as they balanced hedge books, return commitments, and commodity exposure against continued commodity volatility and broader economic and geopolitical uncertainty. Against this backdrop, the market ebbed and flowed at relatively subdued activity levels. What enabled us to navigate 2025 effectively and emerge well-positioned for 2026 was the fundamental strength of our business model. Throughout the year, our vertical integration and asset management platform were instrumental, providing the operational flexibility and cost advantages that differentiate our performance during difficult market conditions. However, this is not just about weathering downturns; it is about having the structural advantages that allow us to compete more effectively across cycles. The recent conflict in the Middle East resulting in disruptions to tanker flows through the Strait of Hormuz, in addition to the damage to Gulf energy infrastructure,…

Ladd Wilks

Management

Thanks, Matt, and good morning, all. Building on what Matt covered, let us start with stimulation services. As we mentioned on our November call, we were encouraged by signs of stability in the first several weeks of Q4. As noted, deferred September activity returned to the calendar in October, and we successfully kicked off a multi-fleet contract with a large operator early in the quarter. Activity was much more consistent in Q4 relative to our expectations. On fleet utilization and pricing, we maintained a consistent fleet count in the low 20s throughout the fourth quarter into Q1. More importantly, we saw improved utilization and operational efficiency across our active fleets, and pricing remained relatively stable quarter over quarter. What I would emphasize is the meaningful impact our cost and capital savings initiatives had on our margin performance in the fourth quarter. We began to see the early benefits of these programs flow through our results, which was a key driver of our strong adjusted EBITDA performance and contributed significantly to our ability to deliver improved margins. In that reference, January presented weather-related headwinds that impacted operations across both our stimulation and proppant businesses. The winter conditions created operational disruptions that we estimate have resulted in approximately $8,000,000 to $12,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA impact in the quarter, more heavily weighted towards stimulation services. That said, since weather conditions improved, our calendar has tightened and activity has picked up. While we expect Q1 results will be softer than our strong fourth quarter performance, primarily due to the January disruption, the operational momentum we are experiencing positions us well heading into the second quarter. Now turning to proppant services. Matt referenced the strength of Alpine Silica's performance in the fourth quarter. After some challenges in Q3, revenues in the segment stepped up approximately…

Austin Harbour

Management

Thanks, Ladd. In the fourth quarter, revenues were $437,000,000 compared with $403,000,000 in the third quarter. We generated $61,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 14% compared with $41,000,000 in the third quarter, or 10% of revenue. For the full year 2025, revenues were $1,940,000,000 with adjusted EBITDA of $310,000,000 and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 16%. Free cash flow was $14,000,000 in the fourth quarter, negative $29,000,000 in the third quarter. For the full year 2025, free cash flow was $25,000,000. As Matt outlined, we have been executing on our business optimization targeting $85,000,000 to $115,000,000 of annualized savings and have made strong progress. Within the fourth quarter specifically, we estimate the combined cash impact of labor, non-labor, and capital expenditure savings was approximately $45,000,000, with labor savings accounting for roughly $10,000,000, non-labor approximately $10,000,000, and the remaining $25,000,000 from CapEx savings. Of note, labor and non-labor savings were executed throughout the quarter. As a result, our progress on these initiatives does not reflect the full potential quarterly impact. Turning to our segments, stimulation services revenues were $384,000,000 in the fourth quarter and improved from $343,000,000 in the third quarter. Adjusted EBITDA in Q4 was $33,000,000 above the $20,000,000 we reported in Q3, with margins increasing to 8.7% versus 5.7% in Q3. The improvement was driven by our more consistent activity levels, better fleet utilization, and early benefits from our cost savings initiatives. For the full year 2025, stimulation services revenues were $1,680,000,000 with adjusted EBITDA of $209,000,000 and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 12.4%. Our proppant production segment generated $115,000,000 of revenue in the fourth quarter, materially higher than the $76,000,000 of revenue we reported in the third quarter. Approximately 43% of volumes were sold to third-party customers during the fourth quarter, versus 39% in…

Michael Messina

Management

Operator, let us open up to Q&A.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And at this time, we will conduct the question and answer session. Your first question comes from John Daniel with Daniel Energy Partners. Please state your question.

John Daniel

Analyst

Matt, Ladd, I was hoping you could provide a little bit more color on the new technology. Is it software that gets installed in the data van? How does it get rolled out? And what will be the sales cycle in terms of educating customers on what it can do? And how long is your expectation for that education process?

Matthew D. Wilks

Management

Definitely. So it is installed on every fleet and ProPilot is our frac automation. It is on every single fleet; it is in the data van. And then Makena is the customer-facing software for well optimization. It allows the customer to pull in real-time data from offsetting wells as well as data from the same well, same stage, and to write rules on how the equipment should respond to that data. So we are extremely excited about this. A great way to think about it is what we are seeing across the entire industry is that operators are only getting about two-thirds of the perfs open on each well. So if there are 15,000 perfs, they are only getting about 10,000 of them actually open. And so our technology allows us to go in, recognize that in real time, respond to it, and initiate what we call interventions to increase the number of open perfs. We cannot improve the resource. We cannot change the rock. But we can open more perfs. We have been able to see where we can open as much as 1,500 extra perfs on a well. Where your D&C cost is $12,000,000 and you are only getting 10,000 perfs open, you are spending $1,200 per open perf. So if we can open an extra 1,500 or 2,000 perfs, that is creating anywhere from $1,800,000 to $2,400,000 of D&C costs that would otherwise have been left behind on each well.

John Daniel

Analyst

Okay. I am curious, and if you said this in the release, I apologize for missing it, but when you have tested this with your customers, did they share with you what the production uplift might have been through the technology?

Matthew D. Wilks

Management

You know, it is too early to tell, and it is a slippery slope for us to get into promising well results or an increase in production. Ultimately, it comes to whether or not these perfs are open or closed. If that perf is closed, we are not getting hydrocarbons out of it. But if I can open these additional perfs, that is a better way for us to measure our success and it also has a quicker time cycle. For us to see enough production and work with an operator to get enough data, we would be looking at just one well anywhere from six to nine months before we really get the appropriate feedback. But then we get into the complicated process of trying to establish how much of that production, what were the changes, what other items were going on at the same time, and what is directly attributable to our technology. But just keeping it simple and focusing on whether or not these perfs are open is the best unit of measure and way to establish progress.

John Daniel

Analyst

Okay. And then, I guess, one final one. Not looking for a specific number here, Matt. Q1 down relative to Q4, but just given the cost that you are pulling out, sort of the run rate right now in March, I am assuming Q2 is probably better than Q4? Is that the would be that big gut feel?

Matthew D. Wilks

Management

That is a fair assumption.

John Daniel

Analyst

Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Saurabh Pant with Bank of America. Please state your question.

Saurabh Pant

Analyst · Bank of America. Please state your question.

Hey, good morning, Matt, Ladd, and Austin.

Matthew D. Wilks

Management

Morning. Morning.

Saurabh Pant

Analyst · Bank of America. Please state your question.

Matt, I know you alluded to some of this in your prepared remarks. What is going on in the Middle East on the margin, I am assuming it does help the U.S. land market a little bit, and I know you were talking about improving operator sentiment. Are you getting more phone calls? Are there more conversations? I know it is too early for anything to show up on the ground, but are you having more discussions? And just along those lines, theoretically, if there is a call on equipment, I know you said you have low-20 frac fleets out there. How easily can you bring more fleets out? And how should we think about any potential CapEx that you would need to spend on bringing fleets out?

Matthew D. Wilks

Management

Yes. It is an exercise that we continue to run through. I think things are happening pretty fast over in the Middle East, and what we are looking at is how much of this disruption is temporary from just the strait being closed compared to structural supply and demand imbalances on a go-forward basis from these attacks on infrastructure. Then there is also the possibility of artificial demand as national security interest for each state is reassessed, and we are likely to see some increased reserves on a go-forward basis that should be very constructive for the supply and demand balance. As far as the onshore market here, we are fielding a lot of calls. There are a lot of conversations going on. So far, most of it is centered around DUCs being pulled forward, as well as more robust dense calendars associated with existing activity. It is too early to tell whether this is going to result in a material increase in rig count, but we are watching it very closely and it is interesting to see how our customers are responding and behaving in real time. Hopefully, we will have more to talk about in the near future. Probably the biggest impact regardless of a call on more horsepower and activity is diesel prices have shot through the roof. In some instances, the daily quote has essentially doubled from where it was just a few weeks ago. That is creating a lot of opportunity for us to be better partners with our customers. Where we see customers that typically run all-diesel fleets, the fuel bill is now more expensive than horsepower, and it creates a premium for fuel-efficient fleets. When you look at dual fuel where you can eliminate as much as 70% of your diesel cost or an electric fleet where you can eliminate 100% of it, it is more important now than ever. We can see margin expansion while also saving our customer money and insulating or hedging, giving them a physical hedge against an unanticipated or expected rise in fuel costs.

Saurabh Pant

Analyst · Bank of America. Please state your question.

Right. That makes a ton of sense, Matt. That is super interesting. And then, Austin, I have one for you. You talked about this in the prepared remarks about how you strengthened your balance sheet and liquidity, including we saw earlier this week some of the amendments you made to your credit facility. But as we look forward, in terms of just opportunities to deleverage outside of just organic free cash flow, maybe just talk a little bit on what you are thinking, how you are evaluating the balance sheet deleveraging opportunity, and what you may want to do from this point onwards?

Austin Harbour

Management

Yes, thanks, Saurabh. With respect to our balance sheet, I think you can tell that we actively manage that, right, and we are constantly looking at a number of opportunities and strategies to optimize what the leverage profile looks like, what the liquidity profile looks like, and then balance that against capital allocation opportunities that we have internally. So as we look forward, I think we will continue to actively manage it and we will continue to focus on making sure that we have liquidity not only to run the base business, but also as opportunistic investments come around. And as we think about the flexibility to be able to respond to this market and also to be able to make investments in some of our other subsidiaries.

Saurabh Pant

Analyst · Bank of America. Please state your question.

Okay. Makes sense. Thank you. Thanks a lot, Austin, for that answer. And Matt as well. Thank you. I will turn it back.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from Dan Kutz with Morgan Stanley. Please state your question.

Dan Kutz

Analyst · Morgan Stanley. Please state your question.

Hey, thanks. Good morning, and congrats on the quarter.

Operator

Operator

Dan, could you please go ahead with your question?

Dan Kutz

Analyst

I am sorry. Can you repeat that question?

Operator

Operator

Dan Kutz, your line is open. All right. Okay. We will move on to the next question. Dan, could you press star-1 again to queue up? Your next question comes from Patrick Woollet with Stifel. Please state your question.

Patrick Woollet

Analyst · Stifel. Please state your question.

Hey, it is Pat Olin on for Stephen Gengaro. Thanks for taking the questions. You highlighted the Q1 2026 results to soften sequentially in the pressure pumping segment, and I know the weather in January plays into that. But you also talked about the frac calendar tightening since then, so I was just wondering if you could give some color on maybe a run-rate basis on how you see the segment exiting Q1 compared to Q4.

Matthew D. Wilks

Management

Yes. I think our exit in Q1 is going to be in line to slightly better than what we saw in Q4. It is just that disruption early in the quarter; you do not get those hours back, you do not get those days back. But it did compress the balance of Q1 and has given us a really tight schedule to run and benefit from higher utilization.

Patrick Woollet

Analyst · Stifel. Please state your question.

Okay. Thanks. And you talked about the $8,000,000 to $12,000,000 impact to EBITDA from the weather disruptions. Is this sort of like lost EBITDA or just pushed out to the right and recoverable?

Austin Harbour

Management

I would view it as pushed out to the right and recoverable. Certainly, it will be lost in Q1, right? To Matt’s point, we cannot get those days back, right? But as we think about the calendar tightening even further as we move through the quarter and also into Q2, I think ultimately we will be able to earn that back. It is just not all going to come back in February and March.

Patrick Woollet

Analyst · Stifel. Please state your question.

Alright. Thanks. And then if I could just squeeze in one more, if you could just talk a little bit about the guide for the proppant segment. It seems like demand is relatively flat quarter over quarter into Q1. Could you maybe touch on the operational challenges you highlighted? Are those sort of weather-related? And then, you sort of talked about maybe some strength into Q2. Is this driven by maybe better operational efficiency? Or is that demand-driven?

Matthew D. Wilks

Management

It is a little bit of both. The disruption early in the quarter impacts your sand mines disproportionately because your wash plants, your working inventory, those freezing temps—these facilities are in areas where you are not used to dealing with this kind of a weather impact. So it is pretty disruptive whenever you get a weather event like this, and it impacts your sand mines a little bit more than it does your frac fleet. With that being said, the operational efficiencies and the quality of our backlog—we have got everything that we can make sold. So now it is just an exercise in execution, and we are starting to see the best performance out of these assets and believe that there is a lot more opportunity in continuing to see that best demonstrated performance climb.

Patrick Woollet

Analyst · Stifel. Please state your question.

All right. Thanks for the color. I will turn it back.

Operator

Operator

Next question comes from Dan Kutz with Morgan Stanley. Please state your question.

Dan Kutz

Analyst · Morgan Stanley. Please state your question.

Hey, good morning, and congrats on the quarter. Sorry about that. I think my headset cut out. So you guys had flagged that you think we are running below production maintenance activity levels in the U.S. currently. Just wondering if you have any guess or any sense for how much higher completions activity would have to be at more of a maintenance-level run rate? Thanks.

Matthew D. Wilks

Management

Yes. I think it is easier to look at it from completed lateral feet per month, and depending on the quality of the inventory, you are looking at anywhere from half a million feet to a million feet a month that is below sustainable levels.

Dan Kutz

Analyst · Morgan Stanley. Please state your question.

Great. Thanks. That is helpful. And then it sounds like you guys had flagged recently that, in tandem with the cost-out initiatives, you are kind of managing the deployed fleet count to a more range-bound level that leaves some spare capacity on the side. Just wondering if you could talk through what that horsepower, what the plans are for that. Is it going towards bigger fleets, towards continuous fracs? Maybe used to minimize maintenance costs, or maybe some of that just gets stripped and gets retired. But, yeah, just wondering how the spare capacity that you guys have is being utilized or what the plans for that are? Thanks.

Matthew D. Wilks

Management

Definitely, that is a great question. The way that we are looking at things right now—tempting and interesting in the environment that we have—is we are going to remain disciplined and keep our fleet count where it is at unless we see a true call on assets and that activity. I think things are too up in the air right now. We are seeing the calendars fill up, seeing DUCs being pulled forward. But once we see this inflection point where there is a true call on activity—of increasing rigs and a demand for frac fleets commissioning full dedicated spreads rather than a few wells here and there pulling DUCs forward—once we see a motivated push to deploy CapEx from operators, we will respond appropriately at that time. And we do have spare capacity. It is just a question of where we are going to put our priorities and focus our capital allocation. At this time, we are going to stick to our plan, stay disciplined, and look for opportunities to create value for our customers. I will highlight, without a call on activity, just the shakeup in the fuel markets is a huge risk for our customers. With the number of fuel-efficient assets that we have, I think we are in a great position to be a great partner with them to help them save money, de-risk their capital allocation, and also to do it while seeing margin expansion on our side. We can help them save a lot of money on fuel and we have been in a low diesel price environment that has really muted the value of these fuel-efficient fleets. But now that you are seeing diesel rise up as quickly and abruptly as it has, it has created a really interesting environment for us to improve our relationship with our customers and get paid handsomely for it.

Saurabh Pant

Analyst · Morgan Stanley. Please state your question.

All makes sense. Thanks a lot. I will turn it back.

Matthew D. Wilks

Management

Definitely. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back over to Matthew D. Wilks for closing remarks.

Matthew D. Wilks

Management

It is good to wrap up 2025. We are excited about 2026. We are managing our business in a very disciplined and thoughtful way. We appreciate everybody's time and look forward to connecting on our Q1 call. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's call. All parties may disconnect. Have a good day.