NexTier stock jumps as frac demand swells revenue

HOUSTON (Bloomberg) --NexTier Oilfield Solutions Inc. soared more than 20% after the frac provider disclosed higher-than-expected quarterly sales, signaling an acceleration in U.S. shale drilling.

The Houston-based provider of pumps that blast water, sand and chemicals underground to crack open oil-soaked rocks said fourth-quarter revenue more than doubled to at least $500 million, almost 3% above the average of analysts’ forecasts in a Bloomberg survey. The shares jumped to $4.64 at 10:14 a.m. in New York for the biggest intraday gain since November 2020.

“We expect many others also experienced this trend during Q4,” analysts at Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. wrote Tuesday in a note to investors. The improved performance was “likely driven less by pricing gains and more by better-than-expected activity levels through the holiday weeks/months into year-end.”

While activity in U.S. oilfields typically slows during the final three months of the year, explorers are racing to frack wells in the Permian Basin and elsewhere before an expected uptick in costs in coming months. NexTier also said in a late Monday statement that worker absenteeism is on the rise as the latest Covid-19 variant spreads.