Expand Energy Q4 Earnings Beat Estimates on Strong Production

Expand Energy Corporation EXE reported fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share of $2, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.89. The company’s bottom line increased from the year-ago adjusted profit of 55 cents, fueled by strong production and higher natural gas price realization.

Expand Energy’s ‘natural gas, oil and NGL’ revenues of $2.3 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.2 billion. The top line was also higher than the year-ago figure of $1.6 billion.

Expand Energy Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Expand Energy Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Expand Energy Corporation Quote

EXE’s Production & Price Realizations

The company reported the average fourth-quarter daily production (comprising 92% natural gas) of 7,400 million cubic feet of gas equivalent (MMcfe/day), increasing 15.4% from the year-ago level of 6,412 MMcfe/day. The daily production levels surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 7,288 MMcfe/day. Natural gas volume for the period came in at 6,824 MMcfe/day, up 17% year over year. The consensus mark called for 6,711 MMcf/day of natural gas. EXE’s oil production was 16 thousand barrels per day (MBbl/d), while NGL output totaled 80 MBbl/d.

The average sales price for natural gas during the fourth quarter was $3.28 per Mcf, up 33.9% from the prior-year realization of $2.45 per Mcf, and it was also above the consensus mark of $3.21. The average realized oil price was $47.97 per barrel compared with the consensus mark of $48.56. Meanwhile, the average realized NGL price was $23.48 per barrel, above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of$22.77.

EXE’s Q4 Costs & Expenses

Total operating expenses in the quarter rose to $2.5 billion from the year-ago quarter’s $2.4 billion. This was mainly due to an increase in gathering, processing and transportation, marketing and a one-time impairment cost. The company’s gathering, processing and transportation, and marketing cost of $642 million and $791 million during the fourth quarter of 2025 rose from the year-ago level of $556 million and $654 million, respectively. Furthermore, Expand Energy also incurred a one-time impairment charge of $37 million during the fourth quarter of 2025.

Dividend & Share Repurchases

In the fourth quarter, the company plans to pay its quarterly base dividend of 57.5 cents per share on March 26, 2026, to its shareholders of record on March 05. Furthermore, Expand Energy plans to focus on reducing debt in 2026 to reinforce its balance sheet and enhance financial flexibility during market lows while continuing to reward shareholders through its base dividend and share buybacks.

Financial Position

Cash flow from operations totaled $956 million, which increased significantly from the prior-year quarter levels of $382 million, while Expand Energy’s capital expenditure totaled $741 million, leading to a free cash flow of $215 million. It also paid out $137 million in dividends during the period.

As of Dec. 31, 2025, the company had $616 million in cash and cash equivalents. Expand Energy had a long-term debt of $5 billion, reflecting a debt-to-capitalization of 21.2%.

Expand Energy’s Guidance for Q1 & 2026

Expand Energy is targeting an average daily production in the range of 7,400-7,500 MMcfe for the first quarter of 2026 and 7,400-7,600 MMcfe for full-year 2026. The company has budgeted its capital spending between $715 million and $790 million for the upcoming quarter, while for 2026, the figure is projected to be between $2.75 billion and $2.95 billion.

Expand Energy currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Important Earnings at a Glance

While we have discussed EXE’s fourth-quarter results in detail, let us take a look at three other reports in this space.

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. PTEN reported a fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted net loss of 2 cents per share, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of an 11-cent loss, and an improvement from the year-ago quarter's loss of 12 cents. The better-than-expected performance was primarily backed by improvement in the company’s Completions Services segment and a reduction in operating costs and expenses.

Total revenues of $1.2 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5%. This was driven by higher-than-expected revenues from Completion Services. The Completion Services segment reported revenues of $701.6 million, which beat the consensus mark of $647 million. However, the top line decreased about 1% year over year. This underperformance can be attributed to the decrease in year-over-year revenue contribution from Drilling Services, Drilling Products and Other Services segments.

As of Dec. 31, 2025, the company had cash and cash equivalents worth $420.6 million and long-term debt of $1.2 billion. Its debt-to-capitalization was 27.5%.

NOV Inc. NOV reported fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings of 2 cents per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 25 cents. The bottom line also decreased significantly from the year-ago quarter’s 41 cents due to the underperformance of the Energy Products and Services segment.

The oil and gas equipment and services company’s total revenues of $2.3 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.9%, driven by stronger-than-expected revenues from the Energy Equipment segment, which was backed by strong execution on backlog. However, revenues fell 1.3% from the year-ago quarter’s figure due to a decline in global drilling activity of 6%.

As of Dec. 31, 2025, the company had cash and cash equivalents of $1.6 billion and long-term debt of $1.7 billion with a debt-to-capitalization of 21.1%. NOV had $1.5 billion available on its primary revolving credit facility during the same time.

Nabors Industries Ltd. NBR reported a fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted profit of 17 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $2.93. Additionally, the metric is well above the prior-year quarter’s reported loss of $6.67 per share. This outperformance was mainly driven by higher adjusted operating income from its International Drilling and Drilling Solutions segments.

The oil and gas drilling company’s operating revenues of $797.5 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $797 million. The figure also increased from the year-ago quarter’s $729.8 million, driven by stronger revenue contributions from the International Drilling and Drilling Solutions segments.

As of Dec. 31, 2025, NBR had $940.7 million in cash and short-term investments.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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