TacticScaleWhat Patterson-UTI Energy Does & How It Makes Money (PTEN)
Updated October 2026 · reflects Patterson-UTI Energy's latest reported financials
U.S. oilfield services firm providing land drilling rigs and well-completion services. It earns contract fees from oil and gas exploration and production companies for drilling, directional drilling and completion services such as fracking, wireline and cementing.
How Patterson-UTI Energy makes money
It earns contract fees from oil and gas exploration and production companies for drilling, directional drilling and completion services such as fracking, wireline and cementing. It also earns money by selling and renting drill bits, motors, MWD systems and oilfield tools, and by licensing drilling software and analytics.
What Patterson-UTI Energy does
Patterson-UTI Energy is a Houston-based oilfield services company, founded in 1978, that oil and gas producers hire to drill and complete onshore wells. It reports three segments. Drilling Services covers contract and directional drilling, measurement-while-drilling (MWD), and the rental of Mpact drilling motors and Mpower MWD systems. The same segment also sells electrical controls and automation to the energy, marine and mining industries, plus data tools such as MWD Survey FDIR, HiFi Nav and HiFi Guidance, which help steer wells to the right spot in the reservoir. Completion Services handles hydraulic fracturing, wireline and pumping, cementing, natural gas fueling for power, and last-mile logistics and storage. Drilling Products designs, makes, sells and rents PDC drill bits and rents oilfield tools. Most of its revenue depends on how much U.S. onshore drilling and completion work exploration and production companies are doing, which follows oil and gas activity levels. The company also works in Canada, Colombia and other international markets.
Products & services
- Contract and directional drilling services
- Hydraulic fracturing and completion services
- Mpact drilling motors
- Mpower MWD systems
- HiFi Nav and HiFi Guidance well-placement software
- PDC drill bits (matrix and steel-bodied)
What is Patterson-UTI Energy worth?
On an owner-earnings DCF, Patterson-UTI Energy's most-likely value is about $11 versus a recent price near $11 (2% above fair value). But TacticScale only calls a stock undervalued when the price sits below its conservative no-growth floor (~$8) with a margin of safety — so the honest verdict here is “Fairly priced — no edge.” Fair value earns its keep only at the extremes, not in the wide middle.
Price sits in the normal range — fair value isn't actionable here; it earns its keep only when price drops below the no-growth floor, or runs to roughly double the optimistic case.
Analysis, not advice. Fair value is a margin-of-safety estimate from a deterministic owner-earnings DCF, not a price target or recommendation. See the full breakdown →
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