Earnings call transcript: Pason Systems Q3 2025 misses earnings forecasts

Pason Systems Inc. reported its third-quarter 2025 earnings, revealing a notable miss in both earnings per share (EPS) and revenue compared to analyst expectations. The company posted an EPS of $0.16, falling short of the forecasted $0.22, marking a 27.27% negative surprise. Revenue came in at $101 million, slightly below the anticipated $102.45 million, a 1.45% shortfall. Following the announcement, Pason Systems' stock price decreased by 2.53% in after-hours trading, closing at $11.96.

Key Takeaways

• Pason Systems' Q3 2025 EPS was $0.16, missing the $0.22 forecast.
• Revenue for the quarter was $101 million, below expectations of $102.45 million.
• Stock price dropped 2.53% in after-hours trading following the earnings release.
• North American and international drilling segments saw revenue declines, while the completions and solar segments experienced growth.
• The company aims to double its 2023 revenue over the next 5-7 years despite current challenges.

Company Performance

Pason Systems faced a challenging third quarter, with significant declines in its North American and international drilling segments. North American drilling revenue decreased by 7% year-over-year, and international drilling revenue dropped by 18%. Despite these setbacks, the completions segment grew by 17%, and the solar and energy storage segment saw a 30% increase. The company continues to focus on innovation, particularly in mud analyzer technology and valve management, to drive future growth.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $101 million, down from the forecast of $102.45 million.
• Earnings per share: $0.16, compared to the expected $0.22.
• Adjusted EBITDA: $38.5 million, representing 38.1% of revenue.
• Net Income: $12.5 million, down from $24.2 million in Q3 2024.
• Free Cash Flow: $18.7 million.
• Total Cash and Short-term Investments: $75.6 million.

Earnings vs. Forecast

Pason Systems' EPS of $0.16 missed the forecasted $0.22, resulting in a 27.27% negative surprise. Revenue also fell short, with a 1.45% miss against the expected $102.45 million. This marks a significant deviation from the company’s historical performance, where it has previously met or exceeded expectations.

Market Reaction

Following the earnings announcement, Pason Systems' stock price decreased by 2.53%, closing at $11.96 in after-hours trading. This movement places the stock closer to its 52-week low of $10.43, as investors reacted to the earnings miss and revenue shortfall.

Outlook & Guidance

Looking forward, Pason Systems remains focused on doubling its 2023 revenue within the next 5-7 years. The company is prioritizing growth in the completions market and international expansion, particularly in unconventional drilling. Despite economic uncertainties, potential growth drivers include advancements in AI, data management, and efficiency technologies.

Executive Commentary

CEO John Faber stated, "We continue to believe the opportunity to double revenue exists over the next five to seven years, even if industry activity remains near current levels." He emphasized the role of technology in improving efficiency in drilling and completions operations and reiterated the company's focus on return on invested capital.

Risks and Challenges

• Economic Uncertainty: Potential impacts on customer spending and market stability.
• Declining Drilling Activity: Reduced activity in key markets could hinder growth.
• Competition: Increased competition in the completions and international markets.
• Technology Adoption: Challenges in the adoption of new technologies by customers.
• Capital Allocation: Balancing investment in growth with shareholder returns.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about capital spending allocation, strategies for completions data management, and international growth opportunities, particularly in Argentina and the Middle East. Executives emphasized a long-term strategic focus over short-term metrics, highlighting the importance of sustainable growth and innovation.

Full transcript - Pason Systems Inc. (PSI) Q3 2025:

Andrew, Conference Operator: The contents of today's call are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of Pason Systems. Certain information about the company that is discussed on today's call may constitute forward-looking information. Additional information about Pason Systems, including the risk factors relevant to the company, can be found in its annual information form. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Andrew, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Pason Systems third quarter 2025 earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, please press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you'd like to withdraw your question, please press the pound key.

Thank you. Celine Boston, CFO, you may begin your conference.

Celine Boston, CFO, Pason Systems: Thanks, Andrew. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for attending Pason's 2025 third quarter conference call. I'm joined on today's call by John Faber, our President and CEO. I'll start today's call with an overview of our financial performance in the third quarter. John will then provide a brief perspective on the outlook for the industry and for Pason, and we'll then take questions. Pason's results in the third quarter of 2025 continue to demonstrate the resilience in our business model through very challenging industry conditions. Pason generated consolidated revenue of $101 million and adjusted EBITDA of $38.5 million, or 38.1% of revenue in the third quarter of 2025. In our North American drilling segment, Canadian drilling activity increased through the third quarter as is seasonally expected after spring breakup.

However, at a more moderate pace than the increases seen in the third quarter of 2024, resulting in a 15% decline in Canadian industry drilling activity year over year. U.S. drilling activity fell slightly through the third quarter, resulting in a 9% decline in overall North American industry drilling activity in Q3 2025 versus the prior year comparative period. Despite this decline, revenue in the segment only decreased by 7% year over year. In this challenging environment, Pason grew revenue per industry day by 1% to a new quarterly record level of $1,071, as the company continues to make progress with growing product adoption across its technology offering. Within the North American drilling segment, Pason generates a higher revenue per industry day with Canadian activity as compared to U.S. activity.

In the third quarter of 2025, Canadian activity represented a lower percentage of total when compared to Q3 of 2024, and this muted the growth seen in consolidated revenue per industry day year over year. The segment's operating expenses remained mostly fixed in nature and fell by 6% year over year, as the company focuses on disciplined cost management in the context of more challenging industry conditions and has seen lower levels of repair expenses, which can fluctuate with revenue levels. Resulting segment gross profit of $42.2 million was consistent as a percentage of revenue at 61% when compared to Q3 of 2024, despite the more challenging industry conditions. Continuing from earlier this year, our international drilling segment faced headwinds in the third quarter, with a larger customer in Argentina reducing activity levels through a pending shift in operational focus away from conventional wells towards more unconventional drilling.

The segment generated $12.5 million in quarterly revenue and $5.2 million in segment gross profit in the third quarter. Operating expenses for the segment are mostly fixed and came down by 11% year over year, as the segment remains focused on disciplined cost management during a period of lower activity levels. Even more pronounced than our drilling segments, industry conditions for completions were very challenging through the third quarter of 2025, with several of IWS's existing customers beginning to slow their number of active frac spreads. In the third quarter of 2025, IWS had 30 active jobs, up from 28 in the prior year comparative period, despite a 27% decline in active frac fleets in the U.S. Revenue for IWS Day also grew year over year by 11%. Revenue for IWS Day will fluctuate depending on the mix of technology adopted amongst new and existing customers going forward.

Reported revenue for the segment was $14.6 million, up from $12.5 million in the third quarter of 2024, which represents a 17% increase against industry activity that fell by 27% during that time. Gross loss of $1.2 million for the segment represents operating expense investments made for the segment's current stage of growth, along with $7.6 million in depreciation and amortization expense associated with the property and equipment and intangible assets acquired on and since January 1 of 2024. Our solar and energy storage segment generated $5.1 million in quarterly revenue, an increase of 30% from the 2024 comparative period, with the timing on deliveries of control system sales driving the difference year over year. As we've noted in previous calls, the segment's revenue will continue to fluctuate with timing of these deliveries going forward.

Sequentially, Pason's results were mostly impacted by the seasonal increase in Canadian drilling activity, partially offset by further reductions in U.S. drilling and completions, resulting in a 5% increase in revenue quarter over quarter. Demonstrating the company's mostly fixed cost base and resulting operating leverage, revenue grew by $4.5 million quarter over quarter, and adjusted EBITDA grew by $7 million in that time. Net income attributable to Pason for the third quarter of 2025 was $12.5 million, or $0.16 per share, down from $24.2 million and $0.30 per share in the third quarter of 2024, reflecting lower levels of industry activity year over year and higher levels of depreciation and stock-based compensation expense. We continue to maintain a prudent balance sheet ending the quarter with total cash, including short-term investments, of $75.6 million and no interest-bearing debt.

In the third quarter of 2025, net capital expenditures were $10.7 million, which includes investments in building out our valve management and automation technology offering within completions and the ongoing investments in our drilling-related technology platform. Free cash flow in the third quarter of 2025 was $18.7 million, compared to $16.7 million in the third quarter of 2024, reflecting lower levels of capital expenditures and working capital investments year over year. With this free cash flow, we returned $13.1 million to shareholders, $10.1 million through our quarterly dividend, and $3 million through our share repurchase program. Year to date, we've returned $49.6 million to shareholders through our quarterly dividend, totaling $30.6 million and $19 million in share repurchases. In summary, we remain very well positioned in the face of challenging industry conditions. I will now turn the call over to John for his comments on our outlook.

John Faber, President and CEO, Pason Systems: Thank you, Celine. Our third quarter financial and operating results again demonstrated the continued strength of Pason's competitive position, even in challenging industry conditions. Revenue from our North American drilling segment decreased by 7% year over year, despite a 9% decrease in North American land drilling activity over the same period. International drilling saw an 18% decline in revenue, resulting from an operational shift of a large customer in Argentina away from conventional assets. Our completions segment grew revenue 17% year over year from the third quarter of 2024, despite a 27% decrease in industry activity. Solar and energy storage segment revenue increased 30% year over year in the quarter on the strength of increased control system project deliveries.

Adjusted EBITDA margins compressed slightly from 2024 levels as a result of the reduction in consolidated revenue and a higher contribution of revenue from the completions and solar and energy storage segments, where segment margins are lower given their current stage of development. We expect margins in these segments to expand over time as revenues increase. The third quarter of 2025 marked more than 20 consecutive quarters across a wide range of industry conditions in which the change in Pason's consolidated revenue outpaced the change in North American land rig counts. This track record speaks to the progress that we have made in reducing the correlation between our financial performance and underlying industry activity. The compound effect of outperformance over time has been significant.

In the six-year time period between the third quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2025, Pason's consolidated revenue has increased by 40%, while North American land rig counts have decreased by 32%, representing a spread of more than 70%. Over that six-year time period, we have reduced our share count by 8.5%, completed the acquisition of Intelligent Wellhead Systems with no dilution to shareholders, and paid over $200 million in dividends to shareholders through free cash flow generated within the business. When we completed the acquisition of the remainder of Intelligent Wellhead Systems at the start of 2024, we believed we had the opportunity to double Pason's revenue from 2023 levels. We continue to believe this opportunity exists over the next five to seven years, even if industry activity remains near current levels. To do so, we are focused on executing against a number of priorities.

We will build on our competitive position in the North American land drilling market. Our focus is on delivering on innovative products, best-in-class service, and exceptional customer support in order to earn the ongoing trust and confidence of our customers. We also look to offer expanded features and enhanced functionality in our existing products and to develop new products that provide additional benefits for customers. We are expanding our presence in the completions market with our valve management and automation technologies, and we are working to develop compelling data management products for completions that leverage Pason's decades of experience in the drilling industry. We look to grow our international revenue, particularly as unconventional drilling becomes a focus in international markets. We anticipate opportunities to achieve greater adoption of our more advanced technologies, including those for the completions market.

The path to our medium to longer-term growth aspirations is unlikely to be linear. In the near term, we expect ongoing economic uncertainty and concerns about the potential for oversupplied oil markets to result in challenging industry conditions. Increasing adoption of existing products and rolling out new products are both significantly more difficult in the current environment. The near-term trajectory of our completions revenue is more closely tied to the activity levels of particular customers rather than the overall market. Newer products and services will likely benefit over time from revenue acceleration that comes from a growing market presence and awareness. We see several supportive industry trends that should provide tailwinds to our efforts over the medium to longer term. Pason stands to benefit from the growing proliferation of artificial intelligence.

Our position as the leading provider of drilling data and our efforts to expand our data management capabilities to the completions market serve us well as AI technologies drive increased demand for data as inputs to the models being deployed. The anticipated growth in demand for natural gas as a source of base load power for data centers is expected to result in increases in natural gas-directed drilling activity. Artificial intelligence tools also play a role in our product development efforts and in improving the efficiency of our own business operations. Technology has played an essential role in driving efficiency improvements in drilling and completions operations, and we expect customers to look for further efficiency gains, driving greater demand for data and technology. Pason also benefits from the additional data and technology requirements associated with the increasing complexity of drilling and completions operations.

Over time, we anticipate overall decline rates for global oil and gas production to increase, driving higher levels of drilling and completions activity as a result of more natural gas-directed drilling, more offshore development, and more unconventional drilling, which have higher decline rates than oil-directed, onshore, and conventional drilling. Our capital allocation priorities are unchanged, and they are driven by a focus on return on invested capital. We are making investments in areas where we can generate high returns on capital, which are not directly available to shareholders in the market, and we are returning excess capital to shareholders in a disciplined, flexible manner. Our highest returns on capital continue to come from the organic investments we are making to continue the growth of our completions business, coupled with the ongoing rollout of the mud analyzer in our drilling-related business.

With the slowdown of industry activity, we anticipate our 2025 capital program will total between $55 million and $60 million, and we expect a similar level of capital investment in 2026. We evaluate our capital program with a focus on increasing revenue, generating free cash flow, and creating value for shareholders over time, rather than simply in response to prevailing near-term industry conditions. We will continue to pursue shareholder returns over time through our regular quarterly dividend, which we are maintaining at $0.13 per share, and share repurchases. This combination of shareholder returns provides disciplined returns to shareholders over time while retaining flexibility to adjust our capital allocation during times of changes in industry conditions. Our balance sheet remains strong. At September 30th, we had $75.6 million in total cash, including short-term investments and positive working capital of $111.9 million.

At this point, we would be happy to take any questions that you might have.

Andrew, Conference Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the number one on your touch-tone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press the star followed by the number two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question is from Keith Mackey from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Keith Mackey, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Hey, John, Celine, good morning.

Celine Boston, CFO, Pason Systems: Morning.

Keith Mackey, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Just a first question on the capital spend for this year and next year, kind of maintaining around that $55 million to $60 million level. Can you just talk about maybe I know it's mud analyzer and completions weighted for anything beyond general maintenance, but can you talk about the mix of spending this year and next year? Will it be the exact same types of products that you're building, or will it move on to a different stage of what you're actually spending the capital on related to those two products? Just curious for some more color on the growth CapEx for next year.

Celine Boston, CFO, Pason Systems: Yeah. I would say similar level as you think about 2026 in comparison to 2025. We talked about in previous calls, we would have said roughly $25 million of the CapEx that we spotted for 2025 goes towards growth-related investments and completions and expectations of growth into 2026 and beyond. I would say that's a similar level that you can expect in terms of split in 2026. On the drilling side, which would be the balance of that $55-$60 million, the majority of that CapEx actually would relate to the refresh investments that we're making on our existing hardware platform as we continue to look towards opportunities to grow product adoption and improve price realization on our existing technology base there.

Keith Mackey, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Okay. Got it. Can you just maybe talk a little bit more about the completion data management projects? How are you inserting yourself, I guess, in the product development life cycle? What kind of things are customers asking you for or looking to do as they use more of these IWS products?

John Faber, President and CEO, Pason Systems: Thank you. I'll speak at a pretty high level at this point because we're still sort of in the early days of getting that sort of built out. I think what is clear to us is that there are at least some parameters from the drilling process which could be helpful for somebody who's involved in the completions process to understand perhaps what the rock properties might look like, which might help them think about how a fracture might propagate. Being able to make some of that information available during the completions process would be an example of an area where we think we're uniquely positioned having access to both the drilling and completions data sets.

Keith Mackey, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Okay. Got it. Maybe just one final one, if I could. John, can you talk a little bit more about the growth drivers that you see in the target to or potential to double revenue from 2023 levels in five to seven years? If industry activity stays roughly where it is now, what are sort of the general buckets of improvement that you'd see to be able to double that revenue?

John Faber, President and CEO, Pason Systems: Yeah, sure. I guess I kind of break it into a few things. There's obviously within the core drilling business, we've kind of established track record over 15 to 20 years of growing revenue per industry day in the order of 6-7% compounded over time. When we look at simply kind of inflationary effects of pricing over time, increased adoption of data-driven technologies related to people doing more with automation and intelligence. When we look at the rollout of products like a mud analyzer, we're pretty confident that we can continue that sort of track record in the drilling-related business. In the completions side, we see, of course, opportunity just for all players in the industry to grow as a result of people using more technology of the type we're offering in the completions market.

We think there is sort of a broad-based technology adoption story that all participants would benefit from. As I would have referenced earlier, we think we may have some unique opportunities in that space related to the fact that we have access to both the drilling and completions data and making those kind of available to customers in a uniform way. There are some ancillary services that happen around drilling and completions that probably would also stand to benefit from some data management capabilities, which stand alone have maybe been not attractive to people independently of the drilling market or the completions market, but by participating in both markets, those sorts of opportunities we would think we would benefit from. In the international business, as I mentioned, you move to more unconventional.

That tends to drive higher-value products from our product offering, things that are impacting drilling performance more directly. We think there are opportunities to grow on the international side as well. At a high level, those are sort of the areas where we see growth. As we said, it is probably a five- to seven-year sort of a timeframe, and it requires execution and hard work and focus on the things that we can be most impactful with.

Keith Mackey, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Yeah. Okay. Appreciate the comments. Thanks very much.

John Faber, President and CEO, Pason Systems: Thanks, Keith.

Andrew, Conference Operator: Your next question is from Aaron McNeil from TD Cowen. Please go ahead.

Keith Mackey, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Good morning, all. Thanks for taking my questions.

Andrew, Conference Operator: I want to sort of build on Keith's last question. Obviously, nice to see those longer-term ambitions. How do you suggest we sort of evaluate the success or failure of these initiatives in real time? What sort of milestones would you point us to over the next couple of years?

John Faber, President and CEO, Pason Systems: Yeah. Unfortunately, Aaron, these are very intentionally medium to longer-term priorities that we're talking about because they're non-linear. It's a little bit easier to establish very near-term measurable things for you to evaluate against when you're talking about doing things you're already doing in a market that's already adopting this type of technology. Because we're talking about, in a lot of cases, new things that are ramping into the industry, some of it, if you're honest, in the short term, is much more around capability development, streamlining the product offerings to be able to scale in a more profitable manner. Those things are a little bit less directly visible. We will certainly provide commentary on an ongoing basis around the things we're doing in each of those sort of broad areas to ensure that we're moving the ball forward.

It is not obvious to me that you are going to have very specific line items in our financials to point to in the next 12, 18, 24 months as interim measures when we are building towards where we need to be in five to seven years as an outcome.

Keith Mackey, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: It could be operational milestones as well, though, like if you're developing a new product or etc. Is there anything maybe not in the financials, but something more than qualitative that you could point to?

John Faber, President and CEO, Pason Systems: I think we will provide comments on an ongoing basis about the types of things that we are working on to establish the ability to hit those objectives.

Keith Mackey, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Yeah. Fair enough. Sorry to needle you, but maybe one more question on IWS. Presumably, you'll have some capacity expansions next year. How do you think of line of sight in terms of having homes for that incremental equipment today?

John Faber, President and CEO, Pason Systems: When we look at the equipment, a lot of what we're talking about on that capital build, and Celine talks about CapEx, a lot of that's based on conversations with customers around what they expect to do going into a 2026 type of a world. I think, as you would see from lots of folks in the completions market, the expectation in the fourth quarter probably always is that it's lower than the third quarter. You hear things in completions around white space, budget exhaustion, and terms maybe those of us from the drilling world don't hear quite as often, but certainly hear lots of talk about what people plan to do early into 2026. We are certainly building with visibility towards where we think that equipment would go to work.

Keith Mackey, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Fair enough. Thanks, everyone. I'll turn it back.

John Faber, President and CEO, Pason Systems: Thanks, Aaron.

Andrew, Conference Operator: Your next question is from Sean Mitchell from Daniel Energy Partners. Please go ahead.

Sean Mitchell, Analyst, Daniel Energy Partners: Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the question. Just wanted to hit on the completion side, maybe a little follow-up or color around, as you see the E&P consolidation and maybe a structural shift in completion design and strategies going from Zipper to Simulfrac. How has that evolution really influenced your completions business in terms of utilization, cycle times, customer engagement, maybe more sophisticated or a different kind of technology demand? Can you provide any color on that? That would be great.

John Faber, President and CEO, Pason Systems: Yeah, you bet. I think in completions, as with drilling, increased complexity certainly increases the value proposition of the types of products that we were bringing to market. When you're talking about ensuring that you can manage a more complex operation efficiently and, very importantly, safely, the types of technologies that we're deploying to those space become, I do not want to say exponential. That probably is overstating it, but it is significantly more important as you start adding more valves to the equation. That certainly is a driver of increased demand for the product, and the value proposition resonates increasingly on a safety and efficiency perspective when you start to talk about more complex types of fracs happening.

The other side of the question you asked around more consolidation, one of the things that we see is certainly a desire from customers to do things consistently across their operations and ensuring they are deploying standard operating procedures. A number of the technologies we offer to that market are really around ensuring consistent workflows and standard operating procedures are being followed as well. As you get larger, more sophisticated companies looking to do more complex operations, they are driving more standardization in how they do things. That would also be a net benefit to things we do on the completion side.

Andrew, Conference Operator: Got it. Maybe one more, just as you think to expand internationally, where do you see the best opportunity sets on the international front?

John Faber, President and CEO, Pason Systems: Certainly, Argentina is an opportunity in terms of it being one of our larger markets today. They are looking to do, we have talked a lot about part of the reason the revenue in the international has declined is because of a shift to unconventionals. That shift to unconventionals starts to drive a lot more of product offering from the drilling side, but also earlier enthusiasm for things around the completion side. The Middle East, there is quite a bit of talk around unconventionals as well. There are opportunities for us there as well. I would point to those two specifically, not to say exclusively, but I think those two would come top of mind if you think about kind of opportunities in the near term.

Andrew, Conference Operator: Thanks, Fitzkipper. I'll turn it back.

John Faber, President and CEO, Pason Systems: Okay. Thanks, Sean. Appreciate it.

Keith Mackey, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Yep.

Andrew, Conference Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, should you have any questions, please press the star key followed by the number one. We'll pause a moment for further questions. There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Faber, please proceed with closing remarks.

John Faber, President and CEO, Pason Systems: Thank you, Andrew. Thank you to those who joined us for this morning's call. As always, we appreciate your interest. We appreciate the questions and your support. If you do have other questions, you certainly are welcome to connect with Celine or myself at any point. Otherwise, I wish you a very good day and weekend.

Andrew, Conference Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating, and I ask that you please disconnect your lines.

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