ProFrac - Earnings Call - Q3 2025

Executive Summary

• Q3 2025 missed Street on revenue and EPS as calendar “white space,” late‑quarter customer deferrals, and pricing/mix compressed results; revenue $403.1M vs consensus $419.3M*, EPS −$0.514 vs −$0.425*; management identified $85–$115M annualized cash savings by Q2’26 and expects sequential improvement in Q4 despite lower average pricing.
• Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA fell to $40.9M (10% margin) from $78.6M (16%) in Q2 on lower Stimulation Services activity/utilization; free cash flow swung to $(29.2)M from $54.4M in Q2 as operating cash flow declined to $4.6M.
• 2025 capex guidance reduced to $160–$190M (prior $175–$225M), reinforcing capital discipline through the downturn; liquidity at quarter‑end was ~$95M with $58M cash and ~$41M ABL availability.
• Strategic narrative pivoted to dedicated fleets (now ~80% dedicated, targeting high‑90s by 2026) and technology differentiation (ProPilot 2.0, Seismos closed‑loop fracturing) to improve resilience and operating leverage into an expected 2026 recovery, particularly in gas basins (Haynesville).

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

• What Went Well

  • Cost and capital discipline: management executed headcount reductions, identified $85–$115M annualized cash savings (COGS/SG&A $65–$85M; capex $20–$30M), and lowered 2025 capex to $160–$190M; SG&A fell 17% q/q to $43M.
  • Technology and integration: ProPilot 2.0 delivering fuel economy gains “as high as 26%” and automation benefits; Seismos partnership enables supervised/unsupervised closed‑loop frac for real‑time optimization and consistency at scale.
  • Liquidity actions: ~$79M equity raise in August; executed sale of $40M Flotek seller note; positioned to close remaining $40M in senior secured notes in December; targeting up to an additional ~$40M of incremental debt.

• What Went Wrong

  • Activity and utilization: September program deferrals drove “calendar white space,” pushing revenue down to $403.1M from $501.9M and compressing Adjusted EBITDA margin to 10% from 16%.
  • Stimulation margin pressure: segment Adjusted EBITDA fell to $19.6M (6% margin) from $51.1M (12%); segment also incurred $9M shortfall expense under the Flotek supply agreement.
  • Proppant profitability compressed: revenue held ~$76M but EBITDA fell to $8M (10% margin) from $15M (19%) due to geographic mix shift to more competitive West Texas and lower operating leverage early in the quarter.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Greetings and welcome to the ProFrac third quarter 2025 earnings 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 Michael Messina, Vice President of Finance. Please go ahead.

Michael Messina (VP of Finance)

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for ProFrac Holding Corp's conference call and webcast to review our results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2025. With me today are Matt Wilks, Executive Chairman, Ladd Wilks, Chief Executive Officer, and Austin Harbour, Chief Financial Officer. Following my remarks, management will provide a high-level commentary on the operational and financial highlights of the quarter before opening up the call to your questions. A replay of today's call will be made available by webcast on the company's website at pfholdingscorp.com. More information on how to access the replay is included in the company's earnings release. Please note that information reported on this call speaks only as of today, November 10, 2025, and therefore you are advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate at the time of any subsequent replay, listening, or transcript reading.

Also, comments on this call may contain forward looking statements within the meaning of the United States federal securities laws, including management's expectations of future financial and business performance. These forward looking statements reflect the current views of ProFrac management and are not guarantees of future performance. Various risks, uncertainties and contingencies could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in management's forward looking statements. The listener or reader is encouraged to read ProFrac's Form 10-K and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which can be found at sec.gov or on the company's investor relations website section under the SEC Filings tab to understand those risks, uncertainties and contingencies. The comments today also include certain non-GAAP financial measures as well as other adjusted figures to exclude the contribution of Flotek.

Additional details and reconciliations to the most directly comparable consolidated and GAAP financial measures are included in the quarterly earnings press release which can be found at sec.gov and on the Company's website. I would like to turn the call over to ProFrac's Executive Chairman, Mr. Matt Wilks.

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Thanks, Michael, and good morning, everyone. I'll kick things off with some brief. Comments, then hand it to Ladd to. Dive into segment performance and Austin will follow with our third quarter financials. Q3 began with the modest market improvements we highlighted during our August earnings call, where we noted that conditions had stabilized compared to our Q2 exit levels, with some crews returning to work mid quarter. During August, we experienced a sequential improvement in both activity levels and pump hours as.

Customer programs continued to materialize. However, September witnessed a sharp deterioration as customers implemented program deferrals resulting in increased calendar white space. This volatility reflects the broader challenges facing the U.S. Onshore completions market where operators continue to exhibit cautious capital deployment in response to market conditions. We have recently taken meaningful steps to adjust our strategy to build a sustainable, resilient business model poised to perform through the cycle. We are prioritizing dedicated fleets paired with operators conducting more robust, less volatile programs. Moreover, we are optimizing our cost structure with a focus on operational and capital efficiency. In addition to a renewed focus on efficiency, the company has identified initial COGS, SG&A and capital expenditure savings of $100.Million at the midpoint on an annualized.

Basis by the end of the second quarter 2026. The savings are comprised of $35 million-$45 million driven by both COGS and SG&A labor reductions that have already been implemented. An additional $30 million-$40 million identified across non-labor items in addition to $20 million-$30 million of reduced CapEx, primarily driven by optimizing the utilization of active assets.

The Company believes that this is the first step in its business optimization plan and that additional savings are possible. Turning briefly to Q4, we have not experienced further calendar deterioration with improved activity in October versus our Q3 exit. In fact, we saw certain programs that had been deferred from September return to the calendar in addition to deploying assets under a new contract with a large operator. Although we typically witnessed Q4 seasonality, we were proactively implementing measures to mitigate the impact. Zooming out, we believe maintenance, drilling and completion activity is below necessary levels to sustain flat shale production in U.S. Land. Consequently, assuming the macroeconomic backdrop is supportive, we expect global supply imbalances to normalize in 2026 as operators will need to gradually accelerate completion activity to overcome natural production decline.

The natural gas sector's outlook remains favorable, driven by expanding LNG export capacity and rising power demand, both factors that should support improved completions fundamentals in 2026. As such, we continue to believe that hydraulic fracturing market dynamics create a compelling setup for the future. With industrywide sustained capital discipline, increased equipment attrition, and more discipline to new equipment additions, we see the potential for meaningful supply-demand tightening should drilling and completion activity accelerate. I'd like to thank our employees for their continued hard work and focus as we position the company for success through the cycle.

Against current market conditions. We are controlling what we can control by executing a comprehensive cost management strategy that positions ProFrac for both near term operational flexibility and long term value creation. In October we completed a thorough review of our labor costs across COGS and SG&A and executed a headcount reduction. We believe this initiative right-sizes our business for near and medium term demand and estimate $35 million-$45 million of annualized savings. Additionally, we have identified $30 million-$40 million of non-labor expenses with a streamlined focus on non-labor operating expenses. We're improving the cost profile of our fleet with stricter enforcement of our centralized control of equipment through our asset management program which will reduce maintenance performed at districts. Additionally, we are optimizing the mix of equipment assigned to each fleet to further limit non-productive time, mitigating interruptions to field operations.

We are confident that these actions will also improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our maintenance capital expenditures where we have identified $20 million-$30 million of additional cash savings. In August we completed an equity offering that netted us nearly $80 million in proceeds. We deployed a portion of these funds to pay down the ABL and for general corporate purposes including working capital. We are also being thoughtful and deliberate in how we use the levers at our disposal from the innovative transaction we entered into with Flotek in April. As a reminder, this strategic partnership involves the sale leaseback of our mobile power generation solutions for $105 million in total consideration.

Structured to provide both immediate liquidity and long term value participation, the transaction gave us approximately 60% of the pro forma fully diluted equity ownership of Flotek Industries, positioning us to benefit from what we estimate to be a $3 billion-$6 billion market opportunity for gas conditioning solutions across diverse end markets including data infrastructure, petrochemical facilities, upstream energy and broader natural gas utilization sectors. Now we're strategically utilizing the financial flexibility this partnership provides. Specifically, on Friday, November 7th, we completed the sale of the $40 million seller note that formed part of the original consideration structure. As we noted when announcing the original transaction, the deal represented an evolutionary step forward in our business relationship with Flotek and these current actions allow us to realize value from the strategic partnership while maintaining our collaborative relationship and ongoing lease arrangements.

We remain very excited about our continued exposure to the gas conditioning and power generation markets through our Flotek ownership. Beyond Flotek, we are also planning to proceed with our previously announced Senior Secured Notes program, which we established in the second quarter as part of our Strategic Liquidity Enhancement Initiative. As a reminder, in June we successfully executed a series of transactions expected to provide approximately $60 million in incremental liquidity through 2025, including an initial $20 million, issuance of additional 2029 Senior Notes completed in Q2 and commitments for two additional $20 million tranches at our discretion. We deferred the September tranche to December and now anticipate closing the remaining $40 million in December.

Lastly, we are currently pursuing up to an additional $40 million of capital in the form of new notes. In total, the completed and planned capital raises could provide as much as $200 million in cash while market conditions remain volatile. We believe these proactive measures, coupled with our cost savings initiatives, demonstrate our commitment to maintaining financial flexibility and building a resilient platform. Looking ahead, we maintain incremental flexibility to access additional sources of capital in response to evolving market conditions. However, I want to be clear that as we execute our business optimization and cost management initiatives, I believe that the potential need for additional capital will diminish or become unnecessary. Beyond these financial initiatives, it's important to highlight that our vertically integrated platform and technology leadership continue setting ProFrac apart, controllable factors that strengthen our competitive position regardless of market conditions.

Our vertically integrated platform remains a fundamental advantage, combining sophisticated asset management with in house manufacturing capabilities that deliver both strategic flexibility and cost benefits. These unique attributes position us to capitalize on market recovery while maintaining our strong position in dual fuel and electric fracturing capabilities, technologies that garner the highest demand. Our technology leadership through ProPilot 2.0 and our strategic partnership with Seismos announced during the quarter continues to deliver measurable outcomes during this challenging environment. ProPilot 2.0 is providing its value as a cost optimization tool, for example, realizing fuel economy improvements as high as 26%. Our Seismos collaboration introduces closed loop fracturing capabilities that represent the next evolution in completion solutions. Vlad will provide more detail on how these technological differentiators are driving improvements across our operations.

In Q3, we generated revenues of $403 million, Adjusted EBITDA of $41 million and free cash flow of -$29 million. This compares with revenues of $502 million, Adjusted EBITDA of $79 million and free.

Cash flow of $54 million in Q2.hese results reflect the volatile market we experienced during the quarter. In summary, we are adjusting our strategy to build a sustainable, resilient business model poised to perform through the cycle. We are prioritizing dedicated fleets paired with operators conducting more robust, less volatile programs resulting in higher efficiency and improved control over our operations. Our proactive execution of a comprehensive cost and capital management strategy positions ProFrac for both near term operational flexibility and long term value creation. With $100 million of structural cash savings identified across operating and capital expenditures, we have raised or plan to raise up to approximately $200 million of incremental capital.

Raised nearly $80 million of net proceeds related to the equity offering in August executed on the sale of the $40 million Flotek seller note sale at par to a Wilkes affiliate. Plan to issue the remaining $40 million balance of the $60 million total commitment of senior secured notes to CSG and Wilkes affiliates pursuing capital in the form of incremental debt targeting up to $40 million. Upon full realization of our cost management initiatives, we believe we have built a full cycle model reducing or eliminating the need for further capital raises. We maintain selective fleet utilization and customer focus, driving higher efficiency and improved asset allocation. We remain confident that market dynamics may create a compelling setup for the future, including maintenance, drilling and completion. Activity is below necessary levels to sustain flat shale production in U.S. Land.

Natural gas sector's outlook remains favorable, driven by expanding LNG export capacity and rising power demand in hydraulic fracturing. Sustained capital discipline, natural attrition, and limited new equipment additions could result in supply-demand tightening. When fully realized, our cost and capital management measures should deliver much of what we would hope for from a market recovery. Now I'll hand the call over to Ladd.

Ladd Wilks (CEO)

Thank you Matt and good morning everyone. I'll provide more granular detail on several themes Matt touched on, starting with our operational performance during the quarter. First, I'd like to join Matt in thanking our employees. Their dedication and teamwork are what keep us moving forward. In Stimulation services, we experienced the market dynamics Matt described, with Q3 presenting a tale of very different periods that drove operational challenges. As Matt noted, we entered Q3 with the modest market improvements we highlighted during our August earnings call. July had represented what we believe to be the trough period. August built on this foundation, delivering solid sequential improvement in both activity levels as some operators resumed executing on their completion schedules. We saw increases in activity that reinforced our view that market conditions were stabilizing. However, September presented us with some surprising headwinds.

What had appeared to be a strengthening calendar coming into the month deteriorated as customers implemented project delays and deferrals. What made September acutely difficult was the nature of the activity disruption. Unlike a gradual decline that allows for systematic cost adjustments, we experienced several head fakes, programs that were delayed with minimal notice. This created substantial operational inefficiencies as we carried semi-variable costs. The pricing environment during the quarter reflected more customer and geographic mix and broader market pressures, with revenue per pump hour declining temporarily into the end of Q3. Combined with activity volatility, this created a meaningful margin compression in the quarter. From a fleet deployment perspective, we maintained our selective approach with an average fleet count in the 20s, though effective utilization was impacted by wide space issues just mentioned, especially in September.

Looking ahead to Q4, we're encouraged by signs of stabilization we observed in October, with some of the activity that was deferred in September returning to the calendar. Additionally, we executed on a contract for multiple fleets with a large operator that kicked off in early October. In parallel, we have continued to evaluate and implement operational adjustments across certain fields and administrative functions to optimize our cost structure. Turning to our proppant production segment, Alpine Silica delivered somewhat resilient performance despite the market conditions affecting our stimulation services. Business Q3 revenues for Alpine remained essentially flat compared to Q2, with volume relatively stable during the quarter. This demonstrates the value of our diversified customer base and our ability to serve third party customers beyond our internal operations.

However, we did experience margin compression during the quarter, primarily a result of a shift in volumes from South Texas to the highly competitive West Texas market. Looking ahead, we maintain a strong market position in the Haynesville region where we anticipate eventual increased natural gas activity will drive improved performance. Further, our throughput improvement initiatives in South Texas continue progressing, establishing us well to capitalize on Eagle Ford demand. West Texas has seen improved volumes and demand. Although pricing remains competitive in Q4, we anticipate an improvement in results, though we remain cautious given current market conditions. Turning now to capital allocation, based on the deterioration in market conditions we experienced in late Q3, we're again demonstrating the flexibility provided by our comprehensive asset management program.

We now expect capital expenditures to be $160 million-$190 million for 2025, representing an approximately $25 million reduction at the midpoint from our previous guidance of $175 million-$225 million. This reduction reflects both the reality of current activity levels and our commitment to maintaining financial discipline. Our asset management platform enables these reductions while ensuring we maintain our competitive positioning and equipment reliability standards. This flexible approach to capital deployment, our ability to scale spending up or down based on market conditions while preserving our technological advantages, continues being a key differentiator in managing through volatile market cycles. Now I want to expand on the operational and technological differentiators that Matt mentioned. These are the detailed execution elements that truly set us apart. Our asset management program continues generating strong results, with our integrated approach to fleet deployment and maintenance optimization proving incredibly valuable.

Equipment reliability and performance metrics remain at elevated levels despite increased operational demands directly attributable to the quality of our people. Coupled with proprietary automation systems, our manufacturing platform provides substantial cost advantages across fleet construction, legacy equipment upgrades, and asset standardization, all at cost below the third party alternative. This internal capability ensures quality control and deployment flexibility while maintaining our competitive moat. Technology leadership drives sustainable competitive advantages through assets such as our ProPilot automation platform. ProPilot 2.0 is proving its value as a cost optimization tool, delivering reductions in labor requirements and maintenance expenses through intelligent automation. The platform's predictive capabilities optimize maintenance intervals and enable more efficient preventative maintenance. We're also excited about our strategic partnership with Seismos, announced in August, which introduces closed-loop fracturing capabilities across all major U.S. basins.

This collaboration represents the next evolution of our technology leadership, combining ProPilot's proven surface automation with Seismos advanced subsurface intelligence to deliver unprecedented operational control and performance optimization. The partnership offers two deployment models. Supervised mode enables real time decision making through continuous subsurface data streams, allowing engineers to optimize stage design and fluid placement while operations are active, while unsupervised mode provides fully automated execution based on predefined parameters, reducing overhead and increasing operational consistency. This technology stack integration is designed to scale across our entire fleet, preparing us to serve super majors and leading independents with measurable performance improvements. Importantly, Seismos acts as an independent auditor for downhole performance, allowing for dynamic completion design and predefined intervention measures to improve well performance. This partnership reinforces our dedication to bring customers the most advanced fracturing technology available while maintaining our competitive edge through innovation.

I will now hand the call over to Austin to cover our financial results in more detail.

Austin Harbour (CFO)

Thank you, Ladd. In the third quarter, revenues were $403 million compared to $502 million in the second quarter. We generated $41 million of Adjusted EBITDA with an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 10% compared to $79 million in the second quarter or 16% of revenue. Free cash flow was -$29 million in the third quarter versus $54 million in the second quarter. The volatility in activity throughout the quarter created inefficiencies and negatively impacted results. While the third quarter presented challenges, we've taken decisive actions to build a resilient platform poised to perform through the cycle.

As Matt outlined, we have adjusted our strategy to prioritize dedicated fleets paired with customers that provide the more stable programs. In concert, we are implementing comprehensive cost and capital saving initiatives which we believe will result in $100 million of annualized cash savings by the end of the second quarter of 2026. In October, we completed a thorough review of our labor costs across COGS and SG&A and executed a headcount reduction. We believe this initiative right sizes our business to align with our revised commercial and operating strategies. Ultimately, we estimate $35 million-$45 million of annualized savings. Additionally, we have identified $30 million-$40 million of COGS and SG&A non-labor expenses with a streamlined focus on non-labor operating expenses.

We are improving the cost profile of our fleets with stricter enforcement of our centralized streamlined control of equipment through our asset management program, which will reduce maintenance performed at districts. Lastly, we are optimizing the mix of equipment assigned to each fleet to further limit nonproductive time, mitigating interruptions to field operations. We are confident that these actions will also improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our maintenance capital expenditures, where we have identified $20 million-$30 million of additional cash savings. Of note, the Company believes that this is the first step in its business optimization and that additional savings are possible. We look forward to providing updates on our progress in the future. In addition to cash savings initiatives, we have executed on or are targeting capital raises that could generate up to $200 million.

Key components include the sale of our $40 million FlowCheck seller note which closed last week, our plan to issue the remaining $40 million of incremental senior secured notes in mid December, our active process targeting up to an additional $40 million in incremental debt, $79 million of proceeds from the equity offering in mid Q3. Additionally, we are actively pursuing other sources of capital in the form of non collateralized asset sales. Importantly, upon full realization of our cost management initiatives, we believe we will have built a full cycle model reducing or eliminating the need for further capital raises. Turning back to our Q3 performance in our segments, Stimulation services revenues declined to $343 million in the third quarter from $432 million in the second quarter primarily due to a reduced fleet count and increased white space.

Adjusted EBITDA fell to $20 million from $51 million in Q2 with margins of 6% versus 12% in the prior quarter. Operational disruptions created by frequent or sudden changes in customer scheduling resulted in unabsorbed costs and compressed our margins. Additionally, this segment incurred shortfall expenses of $9 million related to our supply agreement with Flotek. Up from the previous quarter, our proppant production segment generated $76 million of revenues in the third quarter, effectively flat from $78 million in Q2. Approximately 44% of volumes were sold to third-party customers during the third quarter versus 48% in Q2. Adjusted EBITDA for the proppant production segment was $8 million for the third quarter versus $15 million in Q2, and EBITDA margins were 10% in the third quarter versus 19% in Q2.

The decline in margins during the quarter reflected customer and geographic mix shifts as well as a slow start to the quarter resulting in lower operating leverage. Our focus on operational excellence at Alpine, including throughput improvements and quality enhancements, as well as our exposure to natural gas regions including the Haynesville and South Texas set us up nicely to capture margin expansion when market activity increases. Our Manufacturing segment generated third quarter revenues of $48 million versus $56 million in Q2. Approximately 82% of segment revenues were generated via intercompany sales compared with 78% in Q2. Segment adjusted EBITDA of $4 million compared with $7 million in Q2. The decline in segment results reflects decreased volumes of products sold to intercompany customers. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $43 million in the third quarter, improved by 17% from $51 million in Q2.

This reduction demonstrates our commitment to managing our overhead structure in line with business activity levels without sacrificing our ability to invest in strategic initiatives. Cash capital expenditures decreased to $38 million in the third quarter from $43 million in the second quarter. We now expect capital expenditures to be $160 million-$190 million for 2025, representing a further reduction from our previous guidance of $175 million-$225 million. This adjustment reflects both activity levels and our commitment to maintaining financial discipline. Our asset management platform enables these reductions while ensuring we maintain our competitive positioning and equipment reliability standards. Total cash and cash equivalents as of September 30, 2025 were approximately $58 million, including approximately $5 million attributable to Flotek. Total liquidity at quarter end was approximately $95 million, including $41 million available under the ADL.

Borrowings under the ABL credit facility ended the quarter at $160 million, modestly down from $164 million on June 30th, demonstrating our continued focus on balance sheet optimization. As mentioned earlier, we completed an equity raise in August totaling approximately $79 million that enabled us to pay down the ABL credit facility for general corporate purposes, including working capital management. As of September 30th, we had approximately $1.1 billion of debt outstanding, with the majority not due until 2029. We repaid approximately $32 million of long term debt in the quarter. As touched on earlier, we deferred issuance of the second $20 million tranche of 2029 senior notes structured in Q2 from September to December. We expect the remaining $40 million to be issued in December. Wrapping up my section, while the third quarter presented challenges stemming from customer activity adjustments, we've taken decisive actions to position ProFrac to weather the storm.

We are optimizing our strategy, implementing material cost and capital savings initiatives, and building a resilient model that is poised to generate free cash flow through the cycle. That concludes our prepared comments. Operator, please open the line for questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Thank you. We will now conduct a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment please, while we poll for questions. Thank you. Our first question is from Stephen Gengaro with Stifel.

Stephen Gengaro (Managing Director of Oilfield Service and Equipment)

Thanks. Good morning, everybody.

Austin Harbour (CFO)

Good morning.

Stephen Gengaro (Managing Director of Oilfield Service and Equipment)

I think the first question and one of the things we hear a lot about is just the various pressure pumpers and their pricing strategy in the market. When we hear it from some of the bigger players, they complain about some others who are more aggressive on the spot pricing side. How do you approach, and I know. You talked a little bit about this. In your business optimization discussion, how do you approach the pricing side and what do you see in the overall market as far as the way the. Market is behaving right now?

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

It's been relatively consistent. Whenever you look at spot pricing compared to longer programs. They've been pretty in line relative to each other for about the last year. I think with the availability of equipment and as we look out into 2026, you know, our approach has been to focus more on reliable, consistent programs. You know, as we continue to fill out our entire schedule and, you know, our outlook on 2026, we would expect to see spot, spot work and its pricing to start returning to where it was historically, where typically you would see spot pricing higher than committed, dedicated work.

Stephen Gengaro (Managing Director of Oilfield Service and Equipment)

Okay, thank you. When you talk about the outlook for the segments and you talk about profitability maybe ticking up despite kind of a lower fleet count and softer pricing, how do we reconcile those?

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Yeah, so you know, we're looking at holding in at the, at the mid-20s and, you know, focusing on our cost controls, our processes, to make sure that, you know, what we've run into in the past is, you know, going and adding a bunch of fleets for Q1, and then by April, it rolls over. We owe more to our workforce to maintain consistent fleet count.

Given the opportunity to ramp up and increase fleet count, we would rather focus on using the increase in activity to build out a better book and focus on reliable, consistent work so that we can maintain our headcount, also maintain our equipment in better condition more reliably for the dedicated customers that we're focused on focusing. You know, all of this delivers better revenue, higher revenues per fleet, and an overall lower cost structure per fleet. Okay.

Stephen Gengaro (Managing Director of Oilfield Service and Equipment)

That's sort of the step up because when you say in stimulation services, that activity flattish, fleet count, pricing lower, but profitability higher. That's what I was trying to reconcile.

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

I mean, really, you know, pricing is relatively flat, but we're seeing some green shoots here and there related to ancillary items and not specifically horsepower rates. When you look at the additional services that are built around your base horsepower, we're seeing some really positive signs there. Really, this is a utilization game. Getting consistent customers with a reliable schedule and being able to benefit from the operating leverage is tremendous.

Stephen Gengaro (Managing Director of Oilfield Service and Equipment)

Okay, thank you.

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Our next question is from John Daniel with Daniel Energy Partners.

John Daniel (Founder and CEO)

Hey, guys, thanks for having me. I might violate protocol and ask a bunch of questions, so I apologize in advance. You can always kick me off. The dedicated versus spot map, that's interesting. You mentioned mid-20s today, active. Would you be willing to share what? Portion of those are dedicated right now?

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Let's see, about 80%.

John Daniel (Founder and CEO)

Okay.

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

You know, it's quickly shifting to where we think we'll be in the high 90s as we roll into 2026.

John Daniel (Founder and CEO)

When you referenced, or maybe this Ladd referenced the head fake, was that on spot work and is that kind of what prompted this sort of reassessment?

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Yeah, it was mostly on spot, but, you know, there were some, you know, issues and things like that that pushed the schedule back a little bit. But. These weren't changes to programs, but it was just a delay to existing programs. We saw the stuff that pushed in September started up in October.

John Daniel (Founder and CEO)

Right, okay. Eventually spot pricing should, in theory, come back. Would you hazard a guess as to what type of recovery in spot pricing would you want to see where you might sort of revisit the incremental spot mix in your? In your business?

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

You know, the main thing is, is that, you know, we're. We're just not as interested in chasing. I think it would have to be pretty material for us to want to go in and look at activating fleets as well as taking on, you know, taking on more employees to cover temporary work. It comes down to how reliable is the spot work, and do we have the ability to fill in any white space that comes with it by finding other customers that can fill in those gaps? As far as exactly what that pricing is, the assumptions you have to make on utilization, you know, it would have to be, you know, much higher than it is today. We think that we'll see that at some point in 2026.

We'll revisit this at the appropriate time to see if this is something that makes sense for us to take on the additional operational burden, the complexity that it creates for the business, as well as the challenges it creates for your workforce.

John Daniel (Founder and CEO)

Okay, got two more, and I promise to hang up. The cost savings are significant if we have a steady state environment over the next several quarters. Would you then characterize all these cost cuts as permanent, if you will? I mean, I know how costs can creep back if the business is ramping. How would you characterize that?

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Yeah, every one of these cuts are sustainable. We went in and we looked at historical levels where we had Q1 of each year, and then also going back in and looking at 2022, what was our headcount, what was our utilization on assets, and how tightly did we manage that? We went back in and looked at what are the sustainable levels, where we know that, where our cost structures should be, where should our headcount be, and making sure that we do not come in and bring these to a level that is unsustainable. We wanted to make sure that we had the right number of people on location, that we did not have extras, but we did not have too few.

Also going in, looking at the cycle counts and the efficiency of our maintenance programs, on how quickly we turn assets when they do go down so that we can get them back in line and, you know, getting higher utilization rates. It is, you know, going to a fixed number of fleets and maintaining that level improves our ability to go through and look at every single discipline, every vertical in our business to really refine our cost structure and our processes so that the equipment on location is more reliable. It is in better condition. If you take care of it on the backside, then when it is at the wellhead, it performs much, much better. Because of the utilization, you get to dilute any associated costs in a much more reliable way.

John Daniel (Founder and CEO)

Okay, thank you. The final one, and I apologize, I'm sitting here at a gas station. I don't have all my data, but I want to say the question is around continuous pumping. Diamondback referenced that on its earnings calls, and I want to say they talked about 30% efficiency gain or something to that end. Can you talk to us about what you're seeing in terms of customer interest and continuous pumping and just elaborate on that trend and what it entails?

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

It requires a lot more horsepower as you go in and look at how you still have to maintain this equipment. You still have to build in maintenance windows. You can do that with additional equipment so that you can cycle through banks where at any one time one of your banks will be in a maintenance period while the other banks continue pumping so we've seen some situations where the benefits outweigh the costs. I think each operator is different. How they lay out their well inventory, how they line up the schedules, you know, there's a different solution for each operator. We've, you know, we constructively work with every one of our customers to give them the most efficient program. It really comes down to making sure we have those appropriate maintenance windows.

Stephen Gengaro (Managing Director of Oilfield Service and Equipment)

Okay, fair enough. I'll turn over. Thanks for taking all these questions.

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Our next question is from Dan Kutz with Morgan Stanley.

Dan Kutz (VP and Equity Analyst)

Hey, thanks. Good morning.

Austin Harbour (CFO)

Good morning.

Dan Kutz (VP and Equity Analyst)

I was hoping maybe somewhat similar line of questions to the last two, but just focusing on the proppant production segment, just thinking about your outlook, was hoping maybe we could kind of unpack the comments. Higher volumes and throughput, but still some pricing pressure. Are you guys kind of thinking about flat revenues in the fourth quarter for proppant production? I guess specifically on the higher volumes comment, could you kind of unpack where that's coming from? Is it internal or external? Is it gas basins? Yeah, would be great if you could just give us, if we could dive a little bit deeper on those comments. Thanks.

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Yeah. On the proppant segment, we've been more exposed to the spot environment, more so than, you know, what some of our peers have experienced. I think when you look at the spot environment, it's been relatively consistent. Haven't really seen pricing pressures as much, you know, within individual markets where we saw a reduction in ASP was more so from a mix shift as we had an increase of volumes in West Texas and a dip in volumes in South Texas. When we look at the South Texas and the Haynesville and then also the Haynesville market, pricing is much stronger than what we see in West Texas. As we look into Q4, we're seeing an increase in volumes in those areas where we see better pricing.

We also see an improvement going into 2026 where an increase in volumes in South Texas as well as in the Haynesville will have a material impact to our ASP and the revenue for our proppant segment.

Dan Kutz (VP and Equity Analyst)

Great, thanks. That's helpful. Just staying with proppant, the improved sequential profitability results, could you kind of quantify in the fourth quarter? Could you help us think through how much of that is the early benefits of this cost out program? I guess even taking a step back, we appreciate all the color in terms of where the components of the cost out program will kind of hit the P and L and cash flow statement, but maybe could you talk through any kind of breakout of the cost out initiatives by segment?

Yeah. Just, you know, how much of cost out is driving the 4Q outlook for improved profitability and proppant production, and then maybe a little color on the segment breakdown of the cost out initiatives. Thanks.

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

No, it's a great question. You know, we typically don't break out the split between the two, but the majority of it is on the stimulation services business. When we look at the proppant segment, you know, we've had it running pretty lean for, you know, for quite a while, but most of the improvement there will come from operating leverage and substantial. Increase in utilization, which we're already seeing.

Dan Kutz (VP and Equity Analyst)

Great. Understood. Maybe if I could just sneak one more in. Could you just talk about where ProFrac's kind of nameplate capacity is on the Frac side right now? Any kind of attrition you're expecting? I think that you guys have said that the E-Frac new build has kind of come to, has stopped or paused, but I know that you guys were still doing some tier 4 PGB upgrades. Yeah, just wondering if you could give us the latest on where your capacity is at now by technology and where you kind of see it trending over. The next couple of quarters. Thanks.

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Certainly. When we look at the premium fleets and essentially fleets that can give the best fuel economy, the E fleets as well as the dual fuel fleets have shown to have the highest demand and have the best opportunities to see highest utilizations. That continues to be the case. However, diesel pricing is, you know, the cost of diesel is pretty low right now, so the degree of the savings isn't quite what it has been in the past, but it's still a huge driver for operators as they look at how much it costs to run a program and what configuration they need on location. We continue to see that. You know, we've got very high utilization on our E fleets as well as our dual fuel program. You know, especially as we roll into 2026, we're, you know, we expect to, or we're already seeing it, we're seeing you know, a full uptake of those platforms.

Dan Kutz (VP and Equity Analyst)

Understood. All right, thanks a lot. I'll turn it back.

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Now our next question is from Don Crist with Johnson.

Don Crist (Equity Research Analyst)

Morning, guys. Thanks for letting me in. Matt, I wanted to get your thoughts. On the Haynesville kind of as we go into 2026. I mean, obviously there's a lot of industry chatter on LNG and all the things. And given your position surrounding that basin, kind of what are customer conversations from your standpoint around the Haynesville as we kind of move through 2026.

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

There's a great deal of excitement. We're seeing activity increase. We're seeing. The number of players, the. Number of operators starting to round out. Operators that have been you know had slower programs or no program, you know, have started bringing activity back and putting plans together. The overall chatter around the gas market is very encouraging as well. We're just seeing a lot more conversations and a lot more certainty to the programs. It's good to see, it's good to see. We're pretty encouraged by what we're hearing from operators and how much more sticky their programs look.

Don Crist (Equity Research Analyst)

Do you think that the timing is kind of earlier or later in the year or kind of steady ramp? Up through the year?

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

A great start to 2026. Some of that stuff's getting pulled into December and then. You know, as we roll through the year, it's, you know, I think what we start the year with will carry on throughout the year with potential option, you know, potential option to increase activity. Everybody's watching it real closely to see really how it plays out, but nobody wants to ramp up and grow into, you know, a head fake. So far, what everybody's seeing, they love it. They want to see more of it. But you know, I think gas has been a tricky commodity in previous years. Everybody's cautiously optimistic.

Don Crist (Equity Research Analyst)

I appreciate that. My last question, and obviously through my coverage list, I cover Flotek, so I fully appreciate the opportunity set there. Have you considered peeling off a few shares there? Because overall it may help with the liquidity of Flotek in the end and actually boost the share price. Just any curiosity if you've explored selling any shares just to kind of help both companies out?

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Look, we evaluate all of our assets and we think that Flotek is an incredible company with huge prospects, very excited about their data services business. You know, look, a healthy ProFrac is a healthy Flotek. We watch that real close. Our caution is, you know, if you did look at that, how do you do it in a way where it provides a bookend so that, you know, we're not perceived as a, you know as a continued seller.

Don Crist (Equity Research Analyst)

Understood. I'll turn it back. Thanks for the color, Matt.

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to hand the floor back over to Matt Wilks for any closing comments.

Matt Wilks (Executive Chairman)

Thank you, everyone. We appreciate your time. Today. Our vertically integrated platform, advanced asset management capabilities, and technology leadership continue differentiating us competitively. Our recent strategic initiatives and transactions demonstrate this our focus on operational discipline, efficiency, and Building a resilient platform poised for success through the cycle. We look forward to speaking with you again when we report our fourth quarter 2025 results.