At a glance
Patterson-UTI Energy Inc is worth $4.78B. Revenue fell 10.3% to $4.83B in fiscal 2025, at a loss; over 5 years it has grown 33.8% a year. It pays a 3.02% dividend yield, and returned $1.05B to shareholders in dividends and buybacks over FY2021–FY2025. The stock returned +109.8% over the past year with dividends reinvested and +10.1% a year over five years, against +11.5% and +11.7% for the S&P 500. At its worst it fell 72.3% in the 2020 crash (S&P 500: 33.7%) and 44.9% in the 2022 bear market (S&P 500: 24.5%).
The business in plain English
Patterson-UTI Energy is a Houston-based company that helps oil and natural gas producers drill and finish their wells. Its customers are exploration and production companies in the United States and select other countries. It is paid for rigs, crews, services and equipment. Its revenue therefore depends on how much those producers spend, which tracks oil and gas prices.
Completion services is the largest of its three segments. It brought in $2.89 billion, or about 60%, of the $4.83 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025. This segment includes hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which means pumping water, sand and chemicals into rock at high pressure so oil and gas can flow. It also offers wireline, cementing, natural gas fueling and sand delivery. It works in the Permian, Marcellus/Utica, Eagle Ford and Haynesville basins, among others.
Drilling services brought in $1.56 billion, about 32% of revenue. At December 31, 2025, it marketed 152 land rigs, including 70 in West Texas, seven in Colombia and one in Ecuador. Of these, 137 were Tier-1, super-spec rigs, its most capable class. Customers pay a daily rate for each rig and crew, sometimes with bonuses for hitting performance targets. Drilling products, $344 million or about 7%, makes drill bits and other downhole (in-the-well) tools. It sells them in more than 30 countries from plants in Fort Worth, Texas; Leduc, Alberta; and Saudi Arabia.
Price history
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PTEN +109.8% over the year to Oct 28, 2026, total return with dividends reinvested.
How it makes money
By business segment
| Completion Services | $2.89B | 59.9% |
| Drilling Services | $1.56B | 32.3% |
| Drilling Products | $343.7M | 7.1% |
| Other | $33.0M | 0.7% |
Latest results
- In Q3 FY2026 (ended Sep 30, 2026), revenue was $1.34B, up 14.1% from a year earlier, and net income was $28.4M.
- For fiscal 2025, revenue was $4.83B (-10.3% year over year; +33.8% a year from FY2020 to FY2025) with a -1.9% net margin.
Financial health check
| Revenue growth a year (FY2020–FY2025) | +33.8% good |
|---|---|
| Operating margin | -0.8% weak |
| Free cash flow margin | 7.7% watch |
| Return on equity (FY2025) | -2.9% weak |
| Return on assets (FY2025) | -1.7% weak |
| Net cash (cash minus debt) | $-897.4M weak |
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | $1.12B | $-803.7M | $133.4M |
| FY2021 | $1.36B | $-654.5M | $-70.8M |
| FY2022 | $2.65B | $154.7M | $129.4M |
| FY2023 | $4.15B | $246.3M | $390.2M |
| FY2024 | $5.38B | $-968.0M | $497.1M |
| FY2025 | $4.83B | $-93.6M | $372.2M |
Valuation snapshot
| Market value | $4.78B |
|---|---|
| P/E ratio | — |
| Dividend yield | 3.02% |
Rank among 1514 US companies
Market value at each year end
Patterson-UTI Energy’s market value went from $7.97B at the end of 2016 to $4.78B on Oct 28, 2026, down 40%; since the end of 2025 it is up 106%.
Show as a table
| Year end | Market value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 28, 2026 | $4.78B | +106.3% |
| 2025 | $2.32B | -28.1% |
| 2024 | $3.22B | -28.5% |
| 2023 | $4.51B | -38.3% |
| 2022 | $7.30B | +100.9% |
| 2021 | $3.64B | +84.3% |
| 2020 | $1.97B | -51.7% |
| 2019 | $4.09B | -9.2% |
| 2018 | $4.50B | -56.0% |
| 2017 | $10.24B | +28.4% |
| 2016 | $7.97B |
Price behavior
| YTD | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PTEN price data to Oct 28, 2026 | +112.0% | +109.8% | +3.0% | +10.1% | -3.7% |
Show as a table
| Year | Price data |
|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | +112.0% |
| 2025 | -22.1% |
| 2024 | -20.9% |
| 2023 | -34.2% |
| 2022 | +101.7% |
| 2021 | +62.3% |
| 2020 | -48.8% |
| 2019 | +3.1% |
| 2018 | -54.6% |
| 2017 | -14.2% |
| 2016 | +80.0% |
| 2015 | -6.9% |
| 2014 | -33.4% |
| 2013 | +37.1% |
| 2012 | -5.6% |
| 2011 | -6.5% |
| 2010 | +42.1% |
| 2009 | +35.5% |
| 2008 | -39.1% |
| 2007 | -14.3% |
| 2006 | -28.7% |
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | Lost 62.1% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 78.4%, back to its old high 61.6 months after the low |
|---|---|
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | Lost 70% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 72.3%, back to its old high 11.3 months after the low |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | Gained 53.1% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 44.9%, not recovered by the end of the data |
Insider activity
Form 4 filings from 2025-11-03 to 2026-11-03 (25 read): 0 open-market purchases and 13 sales ($24.6M), 1 of them under pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plans.
| Date | Insider | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 1, 2026 | Robert Wayne Jr Drummond Director | sell | $3.9M |
| Sep 2, 2026 | William Andrew JR Hendricks President & CEO, Director | sell | $3.2M |
| Sep 18, 2026 | William Andrew JR Hendricks President & CEO, Director | sell (plan) | $3.0M |
| May 1, 2026 | William Andrew JR Hendricks President & CEO, Director | sell | $3.0M |
| Sep 2, 2026 | Robert Wayne Jr Drummond Director | sell | $2.5M |
Who owns it
Large shareholders (13G filings)
| BlackRock, Inc. | 14.4% | Mar 31, 2025 |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | 7.16% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Dimensional Fund Advisors LP | 5.6% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Vanguard Capital Management | 5.07% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| BEP Diamond Topco L.P. | 1.9% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows ETF | 1.18% | Mar 31, 2025 |
ETFs with the most weight in PTEN
| XES SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF | 4.35% |
| PSCE Invesco S&P SmallCap Energy ETF | 4.18% |
| OIH VanEck Oil Services ETF | 3.31% |
| IEZ iShares U.S. Oil Equipment & Services ETF | 2.19% |
| VRAI Virtus Real Asset Income ETF | 0.95% |
| SFLO VictoryShares Small Cap Free Cash Flow ETF | 0.69% |
| RZV Invesco S&P SmallCap 600® Pure Value ETF | 0.58% |
| CCNR ALPS | CoreCommodity Natural Resources ETF | 0.42% |
What could go wrong
- Shrinking backlog and easily canceled contracts. Its drilling backlog (revenue already under contract) has shrunk, and customers can end most contracts on short notice. Rigs on longer-term contracts were expected to average 27 in 2026, versus 49 in the first quarter.
- Business rises and falls with oil prices. Demand depends on producers' spending, which tracks oil and gas prices. Its active U.S. rig count fell to 93 at December 31, 2025, from 105 a year earlier as activity slowed across the industry.
- Too much equipment chasing too little work. The industry is highly competitive and has a surplus of rigs and fracking equipment. That can mean lower prices and idle equipment, squeezing profit margins and possibly reducing the value of its assets on the books.
- Customer mergers shrink the pool of buyers. Mergers among oil and gas producers mean fewer customers to win work from. The company warns that losing a key customer, including through a merger, could materially hurt its results.
- Debt load and a dividend that isn't guaranteed. It had $1.23 billion of debt and $201 million of cash at June 30, 2026, with some borrowing at variable interest rates. Dividends and buybacks depend on the board and could be cut.
- Fracking limits and the shift from oil. Completion services, including fracking, brought in about 60% of fiscal 2025 revenue. New limits or bans on fracking, climate rules, or wider use of alternatives to oil and gas could cut demand.
Recent events
- Quarterly results released; Other company announcement
- Investor presentation or announcement
- Quarterly results released; Other company announcement
- Executive or board change; Shareholder vote results; Other company announcement
- Investor presentation or announcement
- Major agreement signed; New debt or financial obligation
- Other company announcement
- Major agreement signed; New debt or financial obligation
- Quarterly results released; Other company announcement
- Quarterly results released; Other company announcement
For income and retirement investors
Patterson-UTI pays a dividend, but it has no streak of increases. It paid $0.32 a share in each of fiscal 2023, 2024 and 2025, and the yield was 3.02% as of October 28, 2026. It lost $0.24 a share in fiscal 2025, so earnings did not cover the dividend. Cash flow did: dividends of $122 million used about 33% of free cash flow, the cash left after capital spending. Buybacks totaled $637 million from fiscal 2021 to 2025. The board decides both, and neither is guaranteed.
The shares have fallen sharply in market downturns. They dropped 78% in the 2008 financial crisis and took about five years to recover. They fell 72% in the 2020 COVID crash and recovered in about 11 months. In 2022 they rose 53% while the market fell. Even so, a 45% drop from a May 2022 peak had not been recovered as of October 28, 2026. A single stock carries more risk than a diversified fund.
Questions investors ask
How does Patterson-UTI make money?
It sells drilling and well-completion services to oil and natural gas producers. In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, completion services such as hydraulic fracturing brought in about 60% of its $4.83 billion revenue. Contract drilling, where customers pay a daily rate for a rig and crew, added about 32%. Drill bits and downhole tools made up about 7%. Demand rises and falls with producers' spending and with oil and gas prices.
Does Patterson-UTI raise its dividend every year?
No. It paid $0.32 a share in each of fiscal 2023, 2024 and 2025, so there is no streak of increases. The dividend yield was 3.02% as of October 28, 2026. The company had a net loss in fiscal 2025, so earnings did not cover the dividend. Dividends used about 33% of free cash flow. The 10-K says future dividends and buybacks are up to the board and are not guaranteed.
Is Patterson-UTI profitable?
Not on a net basis in its latest full year. For fiscal 2025 it reported a net loss of $93.6 million, or $0.24 a share. Revenue was $4.83 billion, down 10.3% from fiscal 2024, when it lost $968 million. It still produced $372 million of free cash flow, the cash left after capital spending. In the quarter ended June 30, 2026, it lost $19.6 million on revenue of $1.23 billion, up 0.7% from a year earlier.
How much debt does Patterson-UTI have?
About $1.23 billion as of June 30, 2026, against $201 million of cash and investments, leaving net debt of about $1.03 billion. Shareholders' equity, the accounting value of what owners hold, was $3.10 billion. The company filed notices of new debt obligations in April and May 2026. Its 10-K warns that some borrowing carries variable interest rates, so higher rates could raise interest costs. A credit rating downgrade could also make borrowing more expensive.
How has Patterson-UTI stock performed?
It has lost ground over 10 years, with large swings along the way. As of October 28, 2026, the share price was down 31% in total over 10 years but up 62% over five years. It fell in each of 2023, 2024 and 2025, then rose 112% in 2026 through October 28. Its worst drop from a peak in about 21 years of price history was 95%. These figures are price changes only and leave out dividends.