Operator
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Forum Energy Technologies second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. My name is Latif, and I will be your coordinator for today's call.
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A link with instructions can be found on the company's Investor Relations website under the Events section. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode, and all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise.
This conference call is being recorded for replay purposes and will be available on the company's website. I will now turn the conference over to Rob Kukla, Director of Investor Relations.
Please proceed, sir.
Rob Kukla
Thank you, Latif. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to FET's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call.
With me today are Neal Lux, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Lyle Williams, our Chief Financial Officer. Yesterday, we issued our earnings release, which is available on our website.
We are relying on Federal Safe Harbor protections for forward-looking statements. Listeners are cautioned that our remarks today will contain information other than historical information.
These remarks should be considered in the context of all factors that affect our business, including those disclosed in FET's Form 10-K and other SEC filings. Finally, management statements may include non-GAAP financial measures.
For reconciliation of these measures, please refer to our earnings release and website. During today's call, all statements related to EBITDA refer to adjusted EBITDA, and net income refers to adjusted net income.
Unless otherwise noted, all comparisons are second quarter 2026 to first quarter 2026. I will now turn the call over to Neal.
Neal Lux
Thank you, Rob, and good morning, everyone. FET's financial results showcase incredible earnings power.
During the quarter, we executed our strategy and demonstrated the leverage in our business model. We delivered sequential and year-over-year growth in revenue and profitability, expanding margins across the board.
We generated free cash flow, strengthened the balance sheet, and returned capital to shareholders. Also, we continued to gain market share through product innovation, international expansion, and exceptional execution for our customers.
While oil prices moved higher during the quarter, our customers remained disciplined and focused on cash generation. In North America, stronger completions drove frac utilization, benefiting our wireline, coiled tubing, and downhole products.
We also saw strong demand in the Canadian oil sands, where technology and reliability remain important differentiators. Outside North America, regional activity was impacted by the Middle East conflict.
However, investment for offshore and unconventional developments remained robust. Customers continue to prioritize technologies that improve uptime, safety, efficiency, and production performance.
These priorities align directly with FET's strengths, leading to our international revenue growth. Going forward, we expect industry activity to remain broadly stable, with modest improvement in selected areas during the second half of the year.
More importantly, we expect FET to outperform through market share gains, new products, geographic expansion, and operating discipline. Looking out further, long-term fundamentals remain supportive for FET's 2030 growth vision.
We expect oil and natural gas demand to rise with global GDP, increased urbanization, expanding LNG exports, and AI-driven power consumption. On the supply side, our customers will need to add capacity and increase operating efficiency to offset steep production declines.
In addition to traditional supply and demand drivers, the Middle East conflict has made reliable oil and gas supply a strategic initiative. We expect new investment decisions to be driven by the need for increased energy security and replenishment of inventory reserves.
We project these fundamentals to expand FET's addressable markets by more than 50% over the next five years. This growth, combined with our targeted share gains, creates a clear path to doubling our revenue by 2030.
With our operating leverage and capital-light business model, we would expect revenue growth to drive significantly greater EBITDA and free cash flow. Capturing this opportunity, however, takes more than a favorable market.
It requires a winning strategy and disciplined execution. Market share gains are a clear indication of successful execution.
Since launching our 'Beat the Market' strategy in 2022, we have increased revenue per global rig by 34%. We are winning through differentiated technology and commercial execution.
Also, our global footprint allows us to export the technologies developed for U.S. unconventional basins to customers around the world.
Our goal is to double share in targeted markets by 2030. We believe the steps we are taking today are putting us on the path to achieve that goal.
Let me cover a few good examples. In the Middle East, field trials with one of the world's largest oil companies are progressing for SandGuard, our artificial lift protection solution.
This product has been remarkably successful in the U.S. and has significant potential in the region.
Another example is Venezuela. After receiving regulatory approval, we have delivered a significant number of coiled tubing strings into the country.
This success has expanded demand for other products, including pressure control and coiled line pipe. We are in the early stages for these opportunities, but expect long-term growth here.
Also, our innovation pipeline continues to drive share gains. Following the substantial DuraLine order for Argentina announced last quarter, we are now seeing increased inquiries and proposal activity in the United States.
Our technology significantly increases the efficiency and safety of frac operations. We are also seeing expanded demand for Unity, our software and control platform for operating ROVs from shore.
During the quarter, we received substantial aftermarket orders to upgrade ROVs built by FET, as well as systems built by competitors. This is a substantial opportunity for our subsea product line.
Finally, in our heat transfer product family, we achieved two critical milestones for long-term growth. First, after several years of product development, we received an order from a major service company for a high-temperature frac application.
This product operates at 140 degrees Fahrenheit, ideally suited for harsh Middle East environments. In power generation, our stationary cooling solution, which I first mentioned last quarter, has quickly progressed from commercial interest to an initial order.
This solution complements our existing Powertron offering, where we also received a meaningful order this quarter. With these developments, we are taking great steps forward in the expansion of our data center and mobile power product portfolio.
While these examples demonstrate progress towards our FET 2030 vision, we also remain focused on delivering results today. Our strong first half performance and elevated backlog gives us confidence to meaningfully raise financial guidance for the remainder of 2026.
We now expect full-year revenue between $870 and $910 million, and EBITDA between $115 and $125 million. Compared to last year, revenue and EBITDA would increase 13 and 40%, respectively, with incremental margins of 34%.
This is incredible growth. Also, we now expect net income between $42 and $52 million, and full-year free cash flow between $57 and $77 million.
This improved outlook reflects the proactive changes we have made to the business, not simply a better market. Our priorities for the remainder of the year are clear: convert backlog to sales, gain share, and generate cash.
Now, to provide more detail on our second quarter results and near-term financial outlooks, I will turn the call over to Lyle.
Lyle Williams
Thank you, Neal. Revenue, EBITDA, and net income all exceeded the high end of guidance as our 'Beat the Market' strategy continued to deliver.
Revenue increased 8% to $226 million, EBITDA increased 39% to $32 million, and net income increased 148% to $14 million. Orders totaled $236 million during the quarter, resulting in an overall book-to-bill of 104%, exceeding revenue for five of the last six quarters.
This performance reflects continued market share gains, growing customer adoption of our technologies, and increasing contribution from international markets. Three primary drivers propelled our year-over-year second quarter performance.
First, we continued to perform well in the Canadian oil sands market, where customer activity levels remained robust. Our downhole product line saw increased demand for sand and flow control products, delivering meaningful year-over-year and sequential growth.
The combination of improving market activity and penetration of our high-value technologies contributed significantly to profit growth within the artificial lift and downhole segment. For the second driver, our drilling product line delivered a meaningful turnaround following the operational restructuring and cost-reduction actions we implemented.
We are seeing the benefits of those efforts through improved margins, stronger operating leverage, and increased competitiveness. In addition, our innovative drilling capital equipment continues to gain traction in international markets, particularly in the Middle East, where customer adoption and project activity are creating new growth opportunities.
For the third driver, our subsea business executed exceptionally well as we converted backlog into revenue. Deliveries of ROV systems, aftermarket products, and related technologies drove improvement in both revenue and earnings.
More importantly, the delivery of our backlog demonstrates the benefits of operational discipline and project management across the organization. These three drivers—Canadian oil sands growth, the turnaround in drilling, and continued subsea backlog delivery—are representative of the success of our 'Beat the Market' strategy, and demonstrate our ability to grow through market share gains, technology differentiation, and operational execution.
Both of our operating segments contributed to the quarter's strong results. Drilling and Completions revenue increased 10% to $139 million.
Growth was driven by higher demand for coiled tubing products, wireline cables, and capital equipment, particularly iron roughnecks and radiators. EBITDA increased 29% to approximately $16 million, and EBITDA margins expanded 180 basis points to 12%.
Growing orders resulted in a book-to-bill ratio of 104% during the quarter. Artificial Lift and Downhole also delivered an impressive quarter.
Revenue increased 6% to $87 million, driven primarily by high demand for sand and flow control products, artificial lift products, and casing hardware. EBITDA increased 30% to approximately $22 million, and EBITDA margins expanded to nearly 25%.
Favorable mix drove an outsized incremental EBITDA margin of 95%, as growth in our high-value downhole product line was partially offset by a decrease in shipments of our mechanical production equipment. Orders remained strong, resulting in a book-to-bill ratio of 105% during the quarter.
Turning to cash flow and capital allocation, we generated $10 million of free cash flow during the quarter, consistent with our expectation of increasing free cash flow through the year. While accounts receivable increased with revenue, inventory remained well managed, and overall working capital performance continued to support cash generation.
A significant accomplishment during the quarter was the continuing deleveraging of our balance sheet. Net debt declined to $115 million; at the same time, trailing twelve-month EBITDA increased to $100 from $89 million.
As a result, our net leverage ratio improved dramatically from 1.4 times to 1.1 times. The combination of higher earnings, improved margins, and free cash flow generation allows us to simultaneously reduce leverage while continuing to return capital to shareholders.
Consistent with our capital allocation framework, we repurchased approximately $8 million of shares during the first half of 2026, and returned $42 million to shareholders over the past two years. We finished the quarter with total liquidity of $96 million, and our balance sheet remains well positioned to support both organic growth and strategic opportunities as they arise.
We believe acquisitions can augment our performance, and evaluate potential opportunities based on earnings accretion and the target's ability to grow free cash flow. We seek acquisitions that align with our 'Beat the Market' strategy and advance our FET 2030 vision.
As we enter the second half of the year, we remain focused on profitable growth, margin expansion, and cash generation with disciplined capital allocation. We expect continued growth with third quarter revenue between $225 and $245 million, and EBITDA between $31 and $37 million.
At the midpoint, these represent approximately 20% revenue growth and 48% EBITDA growth compared to the third quarter of 2025. In line with this profitability guidance, we expect net income of between $12 and $18 million, and free cash flow between $15 and $25 million for the third quarter.
With that, I will turn the call back to Neal for closing remarks.
Neal Lux
Thank you, Lyle. Our second quarter results are another example of FET delivering on its commitments.
Through disciplined execution, innovation, and commercial excellence, we are converting targeted opportunities into higher earnings, strong cash flow, and increased shareholder value. Just as importantly, we are strengthening the foundation of the business and making meaningful progress towards the objectives outlined in our FET 2030 strategic vision.
Looking ahead, we remain confident in our outlook. Sustained offshore demand, growing international opportunities, broader adoption of our differentiated technologies, and improving industry fundamentals continue to support our business.
With strong first half momentum, FET is well positioned to deliver a successful 2026 and create long-term value as we advance towards FET 2030. Before turning the call over for questions, I want to congratulate our employees on their stellar safety performance this year.
Thank you for living up to our number one core value. Done and keep it up.
Thank you for joining us today. Latif, please take the first question.
Operator
As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. To remove yourself from the queue, you may press star one one again.
Our first question comes from the line of Steve Ferazani of Sidoti. Your line is open, Steve.
Steve Ferazani
Morning, everyone. Appreciate the detailed review of the quarter.
Obviously executing in a volatile market. Neal, obviously you exceeded even the high end of your guidance.
What can you point to for the outperformance? Where did you see things coming in better than maybe you expected when you guided three months ago?
Neal Lux
Thanks, Steve. First off, I'm sure you recall for sure, our Q2 guidance was up from Q1, we did expect better results.
Our team stepped up to the faster cadence with really great execution, and I'm confident they can increase that pace again here in Q3. Then as Lyle outlined in his prepared remarks, Canadian oil sands, market penetration, adoption of our new technology there, the turnaround in our drilling product line has been really fantastic.
Then we have a lot of big projects in our subsea product line, and that team there is executing and delivering and converting that backlog into revenue really well. Those three drivers, and then again, just strong execution by our teams, couldn't be more proud.
Steve Ferazani
Excellent. When we think about the revenue this quarter and also what's in the significant orders, are you seeing any kind of a geographic shift from your traditional pattern?
Neal Lux
I think it's pretty broad-based, Steve. We saw completions in North America pick up.
Again, so that's helping our consumables, coiled tubing, wireline. We are still in the Middle East, we're still delivering on products there, still even with the conflict.
Ultimately, Canada has been strong, and the team up there has been delivering for their customers well, and so, again, that's a big driver there. Great,
Steve Ferazani
great. When I think about the margin lift this quarter, obviously greater throughput at your plants, but that margin seems even better than just a throughput performance.
Are we seeing efficiency gains? Is that mix?
Can you talk a little bit about the margin lift?
Lyle Williams
Steve, let me jump on that one. Definitely, you're right about operating leverage.
Remember as a manufacturing products company, operating leverage is a big deal for us. When we see incremental growth, we get nice uplift.
We also in the quarter had the benefit from our cost-reduction initiatives. We started those last year, we talked a lot about them, and really wrapped that up in Q1, but saw a nice sequential pop and sustainable pop from reducing those costs out of our system.
I think the third part in the quarter was mix. Talked about that: downhole product line did extremely well, that high-value, high-margin product lines really grew a lot in the quarter, so that's favorable, but at the same time, we had a decrease in revenue in our production equipment product line, really tied to timing of shipments.
That change in mix was really favorable in the quarter. If you put all those things together, very very solid, very positive.
Also, I think important to talk about sustainability of those, right? The market continues to do well, and as we continue to grow, we see that more operating leverage will flow through.
Cost savings are in, they're done, and that's locked in. Then it's really about mix: as we continue to take share in these targeted high-margin products, we should continue to expect the kind of margins that we saw here in Q2.
Steve Ferazani
Very helpful. I did want to turn to capital allocation.
Any update or changes to your targets? I don't think you can be underlevered, but you're moving in that direction.
When we think about how you're thinking about: one, you're guiding for better EBITDA in the second half; two, second half is typically much, much stronger free cash flow. Where you're headed, what you're thinking about: do you have a leverage target and any change to percentage of cash flow you would devote to share buybacks?
Neal Lux
Steve, as we mentioned on our first quarter call, we think further debt reduction is really building dry powder for potential acquisitions or other strategic objectives. We'll continue to do that.
We are always evaluating acquisitions that could meet our criteria, get differentiated products, targeted markets, accretive financial metrics, and could we get the deal done without increasing our leverage. Ultimately, we want to grow free cash flow per share, and if we can find a way to augment that with acquisitions, we'll do so.
Steve Ferazani
Helpful. Then on the repurchase side, any change in how you would allocate cash flow to repurchases?
Neal Lux
No, I think it was again as we mentioned in the first call, and I think you just noted, our cash flow is definitely weighted to the back half of the year, and so we'll align our purchases with our cash flow generation.
Steve Ferazani
Fantastic. Thanks, everyone.
Neal Lux
Thanks, Steve.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Richard Tullis of Water Tower Research.
Your line is open, Richard.
Richard Tullis
Thank you. Good morning, everyone.
I'm sitting in for Jeff Robertson today. Just wanted to touch a little bit on the exciting 50% potential increase in addressable markets.
Neal, what would be the rough geographic allocation you might be looking at there? I know the Middle East must be playing a part, and certainly agree with your energy security concerns globally.
That seems to be a hot topic now.
Neal Lux
Good morning, Richard. Good to good to have you on the on the call.
As as we think about our our market share, and, or as we define it as our revenue per rig, in, the U.S., we're we're over $700,000 per rig annually. Internationally, that number is lower, let's call it $300 and and change.
As we think about our opportunities for growth, exporting the technologies, the solutions that that we've developed for U.S. unconventional shale, bring those solutions to to the Middle East, bring those, solutions to Latin America, other other key regions, that's a great growth driver for us.
I would expand I would expect over time that, our international revenue will will continue to grow. Not giving up on on U.S.
U.S. and and North American technology by by any stretch of imagination, but I think that's a great great growth opportunity for us there.
Richard Tullis
Thank you. That's helpful.
The SG&A was down nicely year-over-year in total dollars, and despite the significant uptick in revenue, and actually was about 1.5% below our 2Q estimate on a percentage basis. How do you see SG&A trending in the third quarter and throughout the rest of the year, particularly with the outlook for higher revenue at the midpoint in the third quarter, quarter-over-quarter?
Neal Lux
Going back to last year, we started taking structural costs out of the business. SG&A was part of that.
We also want to leverage technology, leverage software tools where we can to be more efficient, and so we've begun to do that. As we think about on a go-forward basis, we don't expect a large increase in SG&A as we progress through the year.
Richard Tullis
That's all for me. Thanks a bunch.
Neal Lux
Thanks, Richard.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Jim Rollyson of Raymond James.
Your line is open, Jim.
Jim Rollyson
Hey, good morning, gents.
Lyle Williams
Morning, Jim.
Jim Rollyson
Neal, if I look at kind of revenue growth in the quarter, high teens, 3Q guide, high teens, just kind of curious, for one, how much of that is market activity improvement versus share gains given your kind of targeted expansion of market share through 2030?
Neal Lux
I think a good portion of that is share gains. Again, I think if you look at the first half of the year, rig count globally hasn't increased, is actually basically flattish.
As we think about going forward, we see a modest activity increase, but much of that share gains. We mentioned the Canadian oil sands, adoption of key technology there's been great.
As we think about our consumables and consumption, again, as more frac fleets are working, we're going to see more demand for our wireline, coiled tubing, other drilling consumables. As long as that activity is churning, we think we're going to gain of a bigger part of that share.
Jim Rollyson
Makes sense. If I think about that and translated into your 2030 view, your updated guidance is now almost $900 million of revenues.
If I remember that chart, you kind of had a $1 billion to $1.6 billion as kind of your path. Are we just accelerating down that path, or is the path actually the endpoint getting bigger, do you think?
Neal Lux
Jim, you're going to get me in trouble. I think that path makes sense.
I think we're finding ourselves to be on that path, again. Internally, we want to always push for more, but that path that we laid out, whether it's a flat market, we want to be a billion-dollar company, or, again, as we expect, that our markets grow and then we continue to gain share, I could see the $1.6 billion over the next five years.
Maybe one change to that is, with the conflict, with energy security, I think we've brought forward some activity. We had expected 2026 to be a roughly flat year on activity, and I think it's going to be up slightly, I think that's maybe an acceleration there.
Jim Rollyson
That's kind of what I was looking for. Then last one for me, just you mentioned Middle East on multiple occasions in some of your different kind of products and testing and opportunities.
Obviously, we're sitting here with the conflict still having some impact in the region right now. I'm just kind of curious how to think about that or how you think about when that opportunity set you're kind of laying out actually starts to kick in.
Is it kind of once we get past this conflict and things normalize a bit better, that actually contributes to maybe better '27 growth, or just maybe how you think about that?
Neal Lux
I think that's a pretty fair assumption. We're still active, Middle East is still roughly 10, 11% of our overall revenue.
Depends where you're working and in what part of the region, it varies a bit. As we look ahead, I think once we are past the conflict and we can resume to normal growth, I see a lot of great opportunities with the oil companies in the region wanting to expand and expand their activity, and they want to adopt the technologies that their U.S.
and North American counterparts have used to become more efficient, and that's the kit that we provide.
Jim Rollyson
Perfect. Appreciate your time.
Neal Lux
Great to have you, Jim. Thanks for joining.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Don Crist of Johnson Rice.
Please go ahead, Don.
Don Crist
Morning, guys. Thanks for letting me in.
I wanted to ask about the pressure pumping market here in the U.S. first.
The pressure pumpers are holding the line and trying to boost margins here, and really haven't talked about new equipment adds or anything of that sort yet, but are you seeing things in the background where they're kicking the tires to see what lead times would be and that sort of stuff? Because as we see it, the market looks really tight on the pressure pumping side in the U.S., and we could see the need for a lot more equipment in '27.
Are you seeing that as well?
Neal Lux
We are. I think we don't see a lot of, let's call it, big fleet additions, but upgrades to existing fleets, upgrades to existing equipment, I think has been the focus so far.
Maybe one differentiator out there is, we're generally a shorter part of that lead time, the components we provide can be provided in a quarter or two versus, let's say, an engine, where you have to get out there early and get in the queue. We're starting to see that pickup on the replacement side, but I agree with you that there is a lot of tightness in the frac market, but we still saw activity increase in the quarter, and, again, we think that our customers are still finding more and more efficiencies to continue to increase and use our consumables.
Don Crist
One on the international side for me, and I don't necessarily want you to have frac-specific on this, but we're hearing a lot more oil companies and E&Ps move into the kind of North Africa region and Turkey and Pakistan and other places outside of the traditional Middle East. Are you seeing people start to come across your transom that want new equipment, not recycled equipment from the U.S., to start expanding activity in those areas as well?
Neal Lux
We are. You mentioned more, let's call it, frontier areas, but as an example, we sold our DuraLine manifold, brand new, the highest spec, not even really used in the U.S.
yet because the guys here are still using the older technology, but the newest technology, we sold that into Argentina earlier this year. We're starting to see more and more inquiries like that.
Again, I think that's a great advantage for us. We have the global footprint, we have worldwide sales, and then our technology, we can ship it around the world.
We're seeing more and more customers interested in how do we be as efficient as the guys in the U.S. That, yeah, we're excited about that.
I think we'll sell the big kit, but then behind that comes the consumables, where that's where we really get excited.
Don Crist
I appreciate all the color. Thanks for letting me in, I'll turn it back.
Neal Lux
Thanks, Don.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of John Daniel of Daniel Energy Partners.
Your line is open, John.
John Daniel
Hey, guys. Just one for me, and it's a follow-on to Don's question.
Neal, you mentioned that you're a shorter part of the lead times for the frac market, but I'm curious, could your lead times extend if all of a sudden the U.S. frac market gets that pricing signal to, say, push forward with 20 to 25 new fleets early next year?
How do your lead times change in that scenario?
Neal Lux
If we have a massive increase in demand, we would do everything we could do to adapt to it. Our teams are nimble, and we're talking to our customers, right, I think we wouldn't necessarily be surprised if they came hard.
I think also we've built up the supply chain. While frac has been relatively quiet over the last couple years, again, the power demand story has been there, and I know you cover it really well.
We noted a couple key orders here with our heat transfer side that I think put us in good position. As you think about the opportunity that we have on the data and mobile power product portfolio, every engine that is supplied for that application needs a radiator.
There's 5 or 6,000 engines that could be delivered over the next five or six years. That is a massive market opportunity for us.
We want to get our fair share. We started making progress in Q2 with our stationary radiator order, but I think we're building a reasonable backlog in that business and look to continue to grow it.
John Daniel
Okay. Thank you.
Not to be perceived as a troublemaker here, but again, following the line of Don's questions, but did the inquiries from those companies, the frac players, does it sync with their guidance?
Neal Lux
I would think so, because again, we're not seeing the big add, we're not getting those 15 or 20 fleet inquiries, John. We're seeing more one-off.
John Daniel
Okay. Fair enough.
Thank you, guys. Great quarter.
Neal Lux
Thanks, John. Appreciate it.
Operator
Thank you. As a reminder to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone.
Our next question comes from the line of Richard Tullis of Water Tower Research. Richard, your line is open.
Richard Tullis
Thank you. Neal, one more from me, please.
Touching on Venezuela and the potential market there, or the size of that potential market, do you see that presenting some additional upside to your FET 2030 goals?
Neal Lux
It can be a huge market, right? We've pretty much been out of that market since what, 2007 or so.
I can remember visiting the country around that time and seeing the infrastructure then needing work, and I can only imagine what it stands now. I think that could be a great driver of our vision.
I think where we stand out or where we want to stay focused, we want to remain nimble and go where the activity is. We don't always know where the oil is going to be produced, but we can get our products there to support its production.
That's where we want to be, if it's Venezuela or Argentina or the Middle East, we're going to be there, and we're going to have our products there.
Richard Tullis
Very good. Thanks, everyone.
Neal Lux
Thank you, Richard.
Operator
Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference back to Neal Lux for closing remarks.
Sir?
Neal Lux
Thank you for your support and participation on today's call. We look forward to our next meeting in October to discuss FET's third quarter 2026.
Operator
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating.
You may now disconnect.