Earnings call transcript: Drilling Tools International Q3 2025 sees revenue rise

Drilling Tools International Corp (DTI) reported its Q3 2025 earnings, showcasing a total consolidated revenue of $38.8 million. Despite a net loss of $903,000, the company posted an adjusted net income of $751,000, translating to $0.02 per share. The company's stock showed a notable premarket increase of 12.38%, reaching $2.27, reflecting positive investor sentiment following the earnings release.

Key Takeaways

• Total consolidated revenue reached $38.8 million for Q3 2025.
• Adjusted net income stood at $751,000, or $0.02 per share.
• Premarket stock price surged by 12.38% to $2.27.
• The company revised its cost-cutting target to $4 million for 2025.
• Strong growth in the Eastern Hemisphere with a 41% year-over-year increase.

Company Performance

Drilling Tools International demonstrated resilience in Q3 2025 with a total consolidated revenue of $38.8 million, driven by tool rental revenue of $31.9 million and product sales revenue of $7 million. Despite reporting a net loss, the adjusted net income indicates a positive operational performance. The company continues to focus on integrating its strategic program, OneDTI, and expanding its market presence in the Eastern Hemisphere, which has shown significant growth.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $38.8 million
• Tool rental revenue: $31.9 million
• Product sales revenue: $7 million
• Net loss: $903,000 (-$0.03 per share)
• Adjusted net income: $751,000 ($0.02 per share)
• Adjusted EBITDA: $9.1 million
• Adjusted free cash flow: $5.6 million

Outlook & Guidance

For the full year 2025, Drilling Tools International forecasts revenue between $145 million and $165 million, with adjusted EBITDA expected to range from $32 million to $42 million. The company plans capital expenditures of $18 million to $23 million and anticipates adjusted free cash flow between $14 million and $19 million. The outlook for 2026 remains optimistic, with continued exploration of M&A opportunities and an emphasis on expanding in the Middle East.

Executive Commentary

CEO Wayne Prejean expressed optimism about the company's future, stating, "We remain upbeat about our prospects for the remainder of 2025 and into 2026." He emphasized the company's strong market position and its technologically differentiated offerings, which are expected to deliver solid results as energy markets recover.

Risks and Challenges

• Market fluctuations: The company faces potential volatility in energy markets, which could impact revenue.
• Cost management: Achieving revised cost-cutting targets remains crucial for financial stability.
• Geopolitical risks: Operations in the Middle East could be affected by regional instability.
• Competitive pressures: Maintaining a market-leading position requires continuous innovation and investment.
• Economic conditions: Broader economic factors may influence demand for drilling tools and services.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the company's U.S. market performance and specific activities in various basins. There was also interest in international market opportunities, particularly in the Middle East, and the company's strategies regarding stock buybacks and capital allocation.

Full transcript - Drilling Tools International Corp (DTI) Q3 2025:

Conference Operator: Greetings and welcome to the Drilling Tools International third quarter earnings conference 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, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Ken Dennard. Thank you. You may begin.

Ken Dennard, Investor Relations, Drilling Tools International (DTI): Thank you, Operator. Good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for Drilling Tools International's 2025 third quarter conference call and webcast. With me today are Wayne Prejean, Chief Executive Officer, and David Johnson, Chief Financial Officer. Following my remarks, management will provide a review of third quarter results and 2025 outlook before opening the call for your questions. There will be a replay of today's call that will be available by webcast on the company's website at drillingtools.com, and also a telephonic replay, a recorded replay, which will be available until November 14th. Please note that information reported on this call speaks only as of today, November 7th, 2025, and therefore you're advised that time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay listening or transcript reading.

Also, comments on the call will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Federal Securities Laws. These forward-looking statements reflect the current views of DTI's management. However, various risks and uncertainties and contingencies could cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in the statements made by management. The listener or reader is encouraged to read the annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K to understand those risks, uncertainties, and contingencies. Comments today will also include certain non-GAAP financial measures, including but not limited to adjusted EBITDA and adjusted free cash flow. The company provides these non-GAAP results for information purposes, and they should not be considered in isolation from other directly comparable GAAP measures.

A discussion of why we believe these non-GAAP measures are useful to investors, certain limitations of using these measures, and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures can be found in the earnings release and our filings on the SEC. With that behind me, I'd like to turn the call over to Wayne Prejean, DTI's Chief Executive Officer. Wayne.

Wayne Prejean, Chief Executive Officer, Drilling Tools International (DTI): Thanks, Ken, and good morning, everyone. I will provide some opening remarks before handing the call over to David to review the financials and our reaffirmed 2025 outlook. I'll then come back and provide a few additional thoughts before we open it up for questions. We are pleased to report that our 2025 third quarter results came in better than we anticipated. Proactive communications with customers and our ability to flex pricing options in response to commodity price swings have successfully stimulated higher activity levels during the quarter, offsetting the impact of any previously negotiated pricing concessions. We also demonstrated strong financial discipline during the quarter by simultaneously reducing debt, building cash reserves, and returning capital to shareholders through buybacks. Specifically, we paid down $5.6 million in debt, increased our cash position by $3.2 million, and bought back an additional $550,000 of common shares.

DTI has benefited from solid progress on our strategic initiatives, particularly the integration of our recent acquisitions in the Eastern Hemisphere. During the third quarter, we saw a significant increase in utilization of the DNR tool fleet in the Middle East and throughout the Eastern Hemisphere. This increase in DNR tools deployed contributed to our Eastern Hemisphere growth and Middle East expansion during the quarter. Year over year, our Eastern Hemisphere operations grew revenue by 41% and contributed approximately 15% of our total revenue in the third quarter. The Eastern Hemisphere is performing in line with our forecast plan, demonstrating our disciplined approach to capital allocation and our ability to successfully integrate new assets into our operations. Looking forward, commodity prices continue to flex as geopolitical uncertainty has enhanced volatility in oil and gas markets. However, average rig counts and activity levels appear to have stabilized during the quarter.

Inasmuch, our teams continue to skillfully manage their current fluctuations in commodity prices and rig counts, delivering resilient financial results while navigating this evolving energy landscape. Again, while the rig count appears to be stabilizing, we still expect uncertainty to continue causing disruptions through both pricing pressure and utilization. To combat these disruptions, we implemented a cost-cutting program in the first half of 2025 to reduce expenses by an annual $6 million in order to align our spending with the activity levels of our customers. However, we have experienced an increase in customer activity that has directly offset price discounts, particularly in our DTR product line, as well as new contract wins with customers. Therefore, we are pleased to report that we no longer anticipate needing the full $6 million of cost cuts to maintain adjusted free cash flow and achieve other outlook ranges.

Our pricing strategies that we have implemented are yielding positive results on activity levels, and we currently believe $4 million of cost cuts will prove sufficient for 2025. Please note, however, that we still have contingency plans to adjust the organization while maintaining operational flexibility to quickly respond to any market events in the future. David will now take you through some third quarter and nine-month metrics, as well as our 2025 outlook. David.

David Johnson, Chief Financial Officer, Drilling Tools International (DTI): Thanks, Wayne. In yesterday's earnings release, we provided detailed third quarter and nine-month financial tables, so I'll use this time to offer further insight into specific financial metrics. Looking at our third quarter results, we generated total consolidated revenue of $38.8 million. Third quarter tool rental revenue was $31.9 million, and product sales revenue totaled $7 million. Net loss attributable to common stockholders for the third quarter was $903,000, or a loss of $0.03 per share. Adjusted net income was $751,000, or adjusted diluted EPS of $0.02 per share. Third quarter adjusted EBITDA was $9.1 million, and adjusted free cash flow was $5.6 million. Additionally, our capital expenditures in the third quarter were $3.5 million. If activity stays level, we expect CapEx to be relatively flat for the fourth quarter. Looking at maintenance CapEx for the third quarter, it was approximately 10% of total revenue.

As a reminder, our maintenance capital is primarily funded by tool recovery revenue, which keeps our rental tool fleet relevant and sustainable regardless of market trends. As I say each quarter, we will continue to review all CapEx spending with an eye on activity levels while demonstrating our ability to generate adjusted free cash flow. As an update on our capital allocation strategy, we are constantly evaluating opportunities to strategically deploy capital with the sole focus of maximizing value for our shareholders. I am pleased to announce that during the third quarter, we paid down $5.6 million in debt, increased our cash position by $3.2 million, and bought back an additional $550,000 of common shares at an average of $2.09 per share.

As of September 30, 2025, we had approximately $4.4 million of cash and cash equivalents and net debt of $46.9 million, compared to $1.1 million in cash and cash equivalents and net debt of $55.8 million at the end of the second quarter. We will continue to prioritize financial strength through a disciplined capital allocation strategy by utilizing all of the tools at our disposal when opportunity presents itself. Looking at our geographic segment mix, we continue to benefit from our diversified geographic footprint and customer base, with 15% of our total revenue coming from our Eastern Hemisphere segment. We continue to expect gradual improvement in this area with additional product sales and rental opportunities as rigs are added back in the Middle East and customers' existing inventories are depleted.

The Eastern Hemisphere segment has helped offset some of the activity decline in North America by contributing to our overall positive trajectory throughout the first nine months of the year. Before I turn to our outlook discussion, let me recap the results of our first nine months. Nine-month revenue totaled $121.1 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $29.2 million. Capital expenditures were $16.1 million, and adjusted free cash flow during the first nine months of 2025 was $13.1 million. Our team continues to execute well across multiple fronts, from operational efficiency to customer satisfaction to strategic initiatives. As we disclosed in yesterday's earnings release, and as Wayne mentioned earlier, we are maintaining our 2025 full-year guidance ranges, albeit leaning at or slightly above the midpoints of these ranges based on our past three quarters' positive results. 2025 revenue is expected to be in the range of $145 million-$165 million.

Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be within the range of $32-$42 million. Capital expenditures are expected to be between $18-$23 million. Finally, we expect our 2025 adjusted free cash flow to range between $14-$19 million. In the long run, we believe we can position ourselves to improve our consolidated margin profile over time as we continue to manage our cost structure and add scale. The strategic acquisitions to our portfolio are positioning us for international growth and are also providing valuable synergies that will benefit our long-term growth trajectory. That concludes my financial review and outlook section. Let me turn it back over to Wayne to provide some summary comments.

Wayne Prejean, Chief Executive Officer, Drilling Tools International (DTI): Thank you, David. We are continuing to make substantial headway on our synergy program called OneDTI. Our OneDTI program has been onboarding all our operating divisions onto the same systems and processes and integrating the acquired business units to our Compass platform to manage assets and customer transactions. As I mentioned in our last call, we relocated our U.S. drilling repair facility from Vernal, Utah, to Houston, Texas, and it is now fully operational. This strategic relocation came two years ahead of schedule and is delivering expected cost savings and efficiency benefits. Additionally, we expect to have integrated all Eastern Hemisphere operations into one centralized accounting platform by the end of December, going live in January of 2026.

This is a major milestone for the growth potential of the company as it streamlines workflows, maximizes accountability, and, importantly, will accelerate the integration of future acquisitions into the DTI platform much more quickly. Of course, we continue to be actively looking at M&A opportunities. Before we open up the lines for questions, I would like to highlight the following. We remain upbeat about our prospects for the remainder of 2025 and into 2026. While the activity declines to date have not been quite as severe as we initially anticipated seven months ago, we have demonstrated that we can quickly adapt to a rapidly evolving market, preserve our financial strength, and deliver meaningful shareholder value. We continue to see opportunities in our core markets. Our competitive position remains strong, and the acquisition integrations are positioning us well for sustained growth.

We are confident that elevated demand for complex, well-bore solutions will further strengthen the need for our differentiated technology and the value-added solutions we provide our clients across the globe. The foundation we have built through our strategic acquisitions gives us confidence in our ability to capitalize on emerging opportunities that broaden our geographic reach, diversify our revenue streams, and serve our customers even more effectively in key markets. Our past M&A activity has enhanced our competitive position, increased our resilience in a dynamic environment, and has positioned us to move quickly when new value-creating opportunities present themselves. We believe that our best-in-class, performance-driven, technologically differentiated offerings, expanding global geographic footprint, combined with disciplined M&A activity, will deliver solid results as energy markets recover in 2026 and beyond.

In closing, I'm encouraged by the momentum we're building across the organization, and it's exciting to see how we have adapted and pushed ahead in a dynamic environment. We are seeing the benefits of our investments beginning to materialize, and our personnel continue to execute well in a rapidly changing global marketplace. I would like to thank every member of the DTI organization for their continuous dedication to working in a safe, inspired, and productive manner. This commitment by our employees is critical in managing this volatile commodity cycle and is vital to our future growth and ability to deliver value to our shareholders. With that, we will now take your questions. Operator.

Conference Operator: Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press Star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press Star 2 to remove yourself from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the Star keys. Your first question comes from Steve Ferrazzani with Sidoti & Company. Please go ahead.

Morning, Wayne. Morning, David. Appreciate the color on the call this morning.

David Johnson, Chief Financial Officer, Drilling Tools International (DTI): Sure.

I want to break it down a little bit into U.S. versus Eastern Hemisphere. Obviously, Q3, maybe the rig count did not decline as much as a lot of people had anticipated. Nevertheless, it was still down about 5%. Can you talk about how utilization has been for you? I mean, when I look at your product sales, which is primarily drill pipe recovery, it held up very well. It was actually up sequentially in Q3. So you can talk about how the U.S. is holding up for you, for your business, in what we are still seeing maybe a moderating decline, but still a decline in Q3.

Thank you, Steve. This is Wayne. We've been working on a number of initiatives to mitigate this slow creep of a rig count decline, but it was certainly a lot less of a decline than we tried to anticipate early on, which all indications were it was going to be more severe. We've participated in a number of RFQs and tenders in the North American market throughout the last few months, and we were able to win some business and maintain some of the business we had with existing clients. That enabled us to maintain a very reasonable level of activity despite seeing a rig count decline. Now, rig count decline means some jobs are not going to be available for suppliers. There seems to be a mix that occurs when that happens.

We were more successful, we believe, in maintaining or aggregating some of that business over that period of time. I think that sells itself well because what we're able to do is our best-in-class products and service and the things that we do usually are successful when quality and service matter. What happens in these down cycles, these operators focus specifically on who or what service suppliers and product suppliers are giving the best quality and service because they need that to translate into performance and results in their wellbores and lessen those events. Our market-leading position and tools and the things we provide to all of these clients, that leading indicator for us prevailed throughout this cycle that we're experiencing. We're pretty proud of that. Our other product lines have held up pretty well.

Overall, I think we feel like it's a win. We've outperformed the down cycle again.

Yeah. No doubt. No doubt. The primary portion of the rig count decline was coming in the Permian, but we've seen some pockets of strength and/or stable drilling in other markets. Talk about your positioning because I know you have operations in every major U.S. basin. How's that helpful? Are you seeing an uptick in some of the markets outside of the Permian?

We're well-positioned in every market out there and appropriately positioned for scale, size, and capabilities, particularly in the Northeast, where activity in Haynesville is where gas activity is holding strong, and you're seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. As you remember in some of our discussions, we're able to move tools around to service those markets fairly easily because of the type of business we have. We've made sure that we've supplied those customers in those areas where the activity is created, and we keep those supply chains running smoothly.

Excellent. In terms of, I know your guidance, you mentioned the seasonal slowdown through earning season. We're hearing a lot of folks saying that it's not going to be as pronounced this year. What are you hearing from customers? I mean, we're into early November. What are you seeing and hearing from customers so far as far as the normal seasonal slowdown, December?

You mean in Q4?

Yeah.

It doesn't feel like it's accelerating. It feels like we're still a month away from someone having budget exhaustion and thinking they're going to drop a number of rigs, but we're not seeing an acceleration of that happening as of today. That doesn't mean we couldn't see a more accelerated decline, but it feels like it's just flat to slightly down the rest of the year than some optimism going into next year, depending on which operator you talk to.

That's fair. On the international side, I think you pointed out Middle East, Saudi strength. Can you provide a little bit more color of where you're seeing the stronger versus weaker areas versus your expectations six months ago or 12 months ago?

Sure. I will tell you, I spent the last week in the Middle East, and there's definitely some optimism, and there are some detailed announcements where Saudi's picking up a few rigs from land and offshore. Adnoc, I think, and UAE is also going to maintain an activity that's solid. The interesting thing is there's so much talk about the unconventional gas becoming more prevalent in both of those major operating areas being Saudi and UAE. Again, because of our experience and the types of tools and services we provide, we will be more and more successful in supplying those markets because we have all the experience here, and we've transferred a lot of the tools and technology and people that we have aligned there, and we're kind of ready to go in the unconventional uptick that's going to happen in those markets.

We feel pretty positive about that.

Excellent. If I get one more in, you talked about the rental tools model and how you can generate cash flow in a down market, and you've proved it through the first nine months. Your net leverage is basically flat from the beginning of the year. Your net debt is basically flat from the beginning of the year, and you've been able to buy back stock. I mean, your net leverage is still very reasonable. Does that make you think you might get more aggressive on stock repurchase, or how are you thinking about that given a very healthy balance sheet after going through several months of this slowdown or several years, you could say?

We continue to try to look at the three or four tools that are at our discretion and use for our free cash flow, and debt reduction is probably the primary one that we'll use. It is kind of baked into remember our stock buyback program is baked into some limitations on volume. As that ebbs and flows, we'll take advantage of that, and we believe our stock is undervalued, and we'll use a portion of those proceeds to do that with those limitations. I think it's more debt paydown, some stock buybacks, and some selective CapEx purchases where needed, where we think the opportunities arise. As usual, we're laser-focused on M&A opportunities going forward.

Excellent. Excellent. Thanks, Wayne.

Conference Operator: Next question, Sean Mitchell with Daniel Energy Partners. Please go ahead.

Good morning, Wayne and team. Thanks for the color on the call so far. Wayne, I know you were recently in the Middle East. Obviously, the Eastern Hemisphere drove a lot of the growth. Can you talk a little bit about lessons learned from your acquisitions in the Middle East and maybe the opportunity set going forward? I know you said you're looking hard, but is there specific countries or regions that you're really going to be focused on, and then maybe even the opportunity set on the M&A front in the U.S.?

David Johnson, Chief Financial Officer, Drilling Tools International (DTI): Thank you, Sean. Yeah, no problem. Historically, you could count on the international rig count, the international activity being NOC-driven, more longer-term, different operating metrics there, driven by those NOCs for longer-term objectives. The rig count is usually stable. We had a little outlier event when Saudi dropped a bunch of rigs here last year and kind of surprised. I think there was not a every surprise, everyone in the market was watching that with wonder. I think it was temporary, and I think the market is becoming more in balance, and we're hearing good, we're hearing positive indications that they're going to pick up some rigs next year and re-implement some drilling programs that they had recently idled. That is good news. The remaining part of the international market was relatively flat, I mean, but for a few ebb and flows that naturally occur.

We're seeing the enthusiasm around that show at ADIPEC. It's really an international oil show. It's amazing how many people throughout the world attend that show, and it's not just specifically focused on the Middle East. There is a lot of enthusiasm around what's happening in the Eastern Hemisphere, and we're strategically positioned to be a part of it. To answer your question about our acquisitions, the lessons learned is make sure we stay focused on executing on those, for the Saudi recent downturn activity, but hopefully pick up in the future, that would be the outlier on some of our acquisition execution expectations.

Thanks, Phil Keller. Appreciate it.

Yeah. You bet.

Conference Operator: Thank you. I would like to turn the floor over to Wayne Prejean for closing remarks.

David Johnson, Chief Financial Officer, Drilling Tools International (DTI): All right. Thank you, everyone, for your interest in listening. We continue to be focused on executing on our international expansion, and we've got a lot of resources focused on making that happen. We have a solid team here, a well-oiled machine here in North America that continues to be a market leader and perform well in a challenging market environment, but we see optimism on the horizon as well. We will continue to deliver solid financial results throughout this continuous cycle that we're experiencing. We have optimism for 2026. Thank you for your interest, and we'll look forward to the next call.

Conference Operator: This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time.

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