PTEN · Energy(drilling oil & gas wells) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
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Patterson UTI Energy Inc reported revenue of $4.8 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 20.2% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from -49.8% in 2016 to -0.9%, and it earned -1.0% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $6.1 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 70.4% went back into the business and 17.8% to buybacks; the share count rose 162.3%. On the accounting screens, it passes 5 of 8 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 1.31 is in the grey zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 20254.8B+20.2% a year over 9 years
Operating margin-0.9%gross margin —
Return on invested capital-1.0%-7.5% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay332.9M6.9% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA—net debt 802.5M
Piotroski F-score5/8tests of improvement passed
Share counts are in today's shares. The SEC's filings restate only recent years after a split, so these jumps were read as splits and the older years scaled to match — otherwise per-share figures would compare different units:
2-for-1 before fiscal 2023.
Is it growing?
Revenue and the operating income it turns into. Growth that does not reach operating income is growth bought with margin.
RevenueOperating income
-2.0B02.0B4.0B6.0B
2016Revenue 915.9MOperating income -456.2M
2017Revenue 2.4BOperating income -292.5M
2018Revenue 3.3BOperating income -322.2M
2019Revenue 2.5BOperating income -461.6M
2020Revenue 1.1BOperating income -892.3M
2021Revenue 1.4BOperating income -677.8M
2022Revenue 2.6BOperating income 211.0M
2023Revenue 4.1BOperating income 352.0M
2024Revenue 5.3BOperating income -889.7M
2025Revenue 4.8BOperating income -40.8M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+23.1%
+33.6%
+20.2%
Free cash flow per share
+18.1%
-73.3%
-2.9%
Dividend per share
+17.6%
-68.3%
+7.9%
Shares
+20.4%
+359.1%
+11.3%
Falling shares are buybacks: each remaining share owns more of the company.
Does it earn more than its capital costs?
Margins say how much of each sale is kept; return on invested capital says how much the business earns on the money it needs to operate. Growth only creates value when that return is above the cost of the capital.
Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.
Return on equity
-2.9%
Return on assets
-1.7%
Asset turnover
0.86×
Overheads (SG&A)
5.3% of revenue
Is the profit cash, and where does the cash go?
Net income is an accounting opinion; free cash flow is what was left in the bank after investing. Stock-based pay does not leave the bank — shareholders pay it through dilution — so it is shown taken off as well.
Net incomeFree cash flowAfter stock-based pay
-1.0B-500.0M0500.0M
2016Net income -318.6MFree cash flow 185.2MAfter stock-based pay 156.9M
2017Net income 5.9MFree cash flow -266.4MAfter stock-based pay -310.9M
2018Net income -321.4MFree cash flow 89.2MAfter stock-based pay 51.3M
2019Net income -425.7MFree cash flow 348.7MAfter stock-based pay 309.4M
2020Net income -803.7MFree cash flow 133.4MAfter stock-based pay 106.8M
2021Net income -654.5MFree cash flow -70.8MAfter stock-based pay -92.4M
2022Net income 154.7MFree cash flow 129.4MAfter stock-based pay 108.3M
2023Net income 246.3MFree cash flow 390.2MAfter stock-based pay 343.5M
2024Net income -968.0MFree cash flow 497.1MAfter stock-based pay 450.8M
2025Net income -93.6MFree cash flow 372.2MAfter stock-based pay 332.9M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
6.1B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 70%4.3B
Acquisitions 10%610.9M
Dividends 9%529.8M
Share buybacks 18%1.1B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -7%-418.3M
Over the same years it paid 351.7M in stock. The share count rose 162.3%. 734.3M of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-6,000.00$-4,000.00$-2,000.00$0.00$2,000.00
2016Earnings per share $-2.18Free cash flow per share $1.27Dividend per share $0.16
2017Earnings per share $0.03Free cash flow per share $-1.33Dividend per share $0.08
2018Earnings per share $-1.47Free cash flow per share $0.41Dividend per share $0.14
2019Earnings per share $-2,096.66Free cash flow per share $1,717.36Dividend per share $159.71
2020Earnings per share $-4,274.66Free cash flow per share $709.40Dividend per share $100.32
2021Earnings per share $-3,356.28Free cash flow per share $-363.16Dividend per share $80.02
2022Earnings per share $0.70Free cash flow per share $0.59Dividend per share $0.20
2023Earnings per share $0.88Free cash flow per share $1.39Dividend per share $0.36
2024Earnings per share $-2.44Free cash flow per share $1.25Dividend per share $0.32
2025Earnings per share $-0.24Free cash flow per share $0.97Dividend per share $0.32
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
0100.0M200.0M300.0M400.0M
2016Diluted shares 146.2M
2017Diluted shares 199.9M
2018Diluted shares 218.6M
2019Diluted shares 203,039
2020Diluted shares 188,013
2021Diluted shares 195,021
2022Diluted shares 219.5M
2023Diluted shares 280.1M
2024Diluted shares 397.2M
2025Diluted shares 383.5M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
How strong is the balance sheet?
Debt is not bad in itself; debt the business cannot service in a bad year is. Net debt is debt minus cash, and below zero the company holds more cash than it owes.
Net debt
0500.0M1.0B1.5B
2016Net debt 563.3M
2017Net debt 556.0M
2018Net debt 874.2M
2019Net debt 792.4M
2020Net debt 676.6M
2021Net debt 734.8M
2022Net debt 693.4M
2023Net debt 1.0B
2024Net debt 987.0M
2025Net debt 802.5M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
—
Interest coverage
-1× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.64 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 55d
Three classic screens of the accounts
Each asks a different question of the same statements — is it improving, does it look like a company heading for distress, do the accounts resemble ones that were manipulated. None is a verdict; each shows what moves it.
Piotroski F-score
Is the business improving? Nine yes-or-no tests, this year against last.
5of 8 tests passed
✕ProfitableReturn on assets above zerofailed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✓Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforepassed
✓Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals)passed
✕Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fellfailed
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✓No new sharesShare count did not growpassed
–Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year before — not reportedno data
✕Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforefailed
Where it misleads: it measures change, not level. An excellent business that stood still for a year scores low; a poor one recovering from a disaster scores high.
Altman Z''-score
Does the balance sheet look like those of companies that went bankrupt?
1.31grey zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.10 × 6.56+0.65
Retained earnings ÷ assets -0.23 × 3.26-0.74
Operating income ÷ assets -0.01 × 6.72-0.05
Equity ÷ liabilities 1.37 × 1.05+1.44
Where it misleads: buybacks. A company that returns so much cash that its equity turns small or negative sinks the last two ratios without being anywhere near bankruptcy. Banks and insurers do not fit the model at all.
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
-3.44below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.05+0.97
Gross margin slipping 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.53
Soft assets 0.99+0.40
Sales growth 0.90+0.80
Slower depreciation 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.12
Overheads vs sales 1.05-0.18
Profit not in cash -0.19-0.89
Leverage rising 1.06-0.35
Where it misleads: fast growth and acquisitions. Sales growth carries a heavy weight, so a company growing 50% a year scores like a suspect without having done anything. It is a screen from a 1999 study, not an accusation.
Where the statements disagree
Cross-checks between the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow for the latest year, each with the benign reading and the worrying one.
The effective tax rate is -9.6%.
Benign
A favourable geographic mix, or legitimate tax credits.
Worrying
Not sustainable; projecting it forward inflates the valuation.
What is it worth, under which assumptions?
A company is worth the cash it will generate, brought back to today. This model projects revenue with growth that fades over the years, applies a free cash flow margin, and discounts the result at the cost of capital. Every assumption says where it came from, and all of them can be changed.
The SEC accounts lack the lines needed for revenue, free cash flow or the share count, so there is no DCF for this company.
What it has filed lately
The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.
Every Form 4 filed in the last twelve months, read line by line: 6 filings by 5 people. Open-market purchases and sales are counted apart from awards, option exercises and shares withheld for taxes.
Bought on the open market—none in the period
Sold on the open market$12.9M7 sale(s) by 5 insider(s)
Under pre-arranged plans14%of the sales followed a 10b5-1 plan set months earlier
A Form 4 says what happened, when, how many shares and at what price. It does not say why: a sale can be diversification, a tax bill or a plan fixed months earlier, and an award is pay, not a purchase. Nothing here is a reason to buy or sell anything.
Which large funds report holding it
From the Form 13F of the 28 institutions followed on this site, as of the end of their last reported quarter. A 13F is filed up to 45 days later and shows only long positions in US-listed shares.
Accounts from the company's own SEC filings; lines some companies do not report are shown as a dash rather than estimated. The risk-free rate is the 10-year US Treasury yield. A DCF is a way of making assumptions explicit, not a forecast: it states what the company would be worth if the assumptions held. The scores are screens that point where to look, not verdicts. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.