Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) executives said the company ended 2025 with a strong fourth quarter despite a year of “heightened oil market uncertainty and softer industry completions activity,” while accelerating plans to scale its power infrastructure platform alongside its core North American completions business.
Full-year and fourth-quarter results
Chief Executive Officer Ron Gusek said Liberty delivered a “resilient” year, highlighting a cash return on capital invested (CROCI) of 13% amid volatile conditions. For full-year 2025, the company reported revenue of $4.0 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $634 million. Liberty also returned $77 million to shareholders through cash dividends and early-year share buybacks while continuing to invest in growth initiatives.
In the fourth quarter, revenue was $1.0 billion, up 10% sequentially, which Stock said was driven by activity levels that “meaningfully exceeded the industry.” Adjusted EBITDA rose to $158 million from $128 million in the prior quarter. Fourth-quarter net income was $14 million, while adjusted net income was $8 million (excluding $6 million of tax-affected gains on investments). G&A expense was $65 million, including $6 million of non-cash stock-based compensation; excluding that, Stock said the increase was largely tied to higher variable compensation due to stronger-than-expected full-year results.
Capital returns, balance sheet, and spending
Liberty ended 2025 with $28 million of cash and net debt of $219 million, with net debt up $49 million year-over-year. Total liquidity, including credit facility availability, was $281 million.
Stock said 2025 cash flows were used for capital expenditures, $53 million in cash dividends, and $24 million in share buybacks. For capital spending, net capex and long-term deposits were $203 million in the fourth quarter and $571 million for the full year, including investments in digiFleets, capitalized maintenance, LPI infrastructure, power generation, and other projects. Fourth-quarter capex included $79 million in deposits for long-lead-time power generation equipment.
Looking to 2026, Stock said completions capital expenditures are expected to moderate to approximately $250 million, including $175 million in maintenance capex, with the remainder tied to building approximately three to four additional digiFleets. In the power business, he said Liberty expects to take delivery of about 500 MW of power generation equipment in 2026, with capital spending split between roughly $275 million to $350 million of long-lead deposits and $450 million to $550 million of project-related expenditures that are expected to be funded by project financing.
Addressing investor questions on financing, Stock said long-lead deposits are intended to move into project financing once equipment is assigned to projects, and he expects “more project finance capability than is given by those numbers.” He added that Liberty believes it can handle the remaining spending through free cash flow and debt availability.
Completions market conditions and technology focus
Gusek said North American oil and gas conditions have stabilized after last year’s OPEC+ supply concerns and tariff-related volatility. He noted that fourth-quarter completions activity “defied normal seasonal sequential declines” and said demand is projected to hold firm in 2026, with producers targeting flat oil production and modest growth in gas-directed activity.
Executives also described ongoing pricing pressure in completion services and said the slowdown in activity has accelerated equipment cannibalization and attrition across the industry, while underinvestment has limited replacement capacity. Gusek said that as the market recalibrated, “fewer crews are available to meet any incremental completions demand,” and he characterized the environment as a “flight to quality” favoring providers that can deliver multi-frac jobs, continuous operations, and automation and transparency.
Liberty highlighted technology initiatives aimed at efficiency and differentiation. Gusek said Liberty’s AI-driven asset optimization software and “digiTechnologies transition” reduced total maintenance costs per unit of work by about 14%. He also announced the launch of Atlas and Atlas IQ, which he described as a unified technology platform that converts real-time data into actionable insights. Atlas is a cloud-based completions data platform deployed with every Liberty crew, while Atlas IQ adds an AI-powered assistant that supports natural language queries across operational data and technical knowledge within Liberty’s environment.
Distributed power platform and 3 GW plan by 2029
Much of the call centered on Liberty’s LPI distributed power solutions business and the company’s view that data centers and other large loads are increasingly turning to on-site generation. Gusek said on-site generation has emerged as a preferred long-term strategy due to evolving grid dynamics, and he positioned Liberty’s “Power as a Service” offering—built around the Forte generation platform, Tempo, Tempo Power Quality Management System, midstream services, and a grid-related solution called Chorus—as designed to deliver rapid deployment, uninterrupted operations, and predictable costs.
Gusek cited two recent commercial milestones:
- Vantage Data Centers agreement: Liberty announced an agreement to develop and deliver at least 1 GW of utility-scale power solutions, anchored by a firm reservation of 400 MW to be delivered during 2027 with a contracted payment structure aligned to expected returns under an energy services agreement (ESA) with end users.
- Texas data center project: Liberty entered a power reservation and preliminary ESA with another data center developer for a 330 MW expansion in Texas, expected to begin operations in two phases, with the first half online in Q4 2027 and the second half in Q2 2028.
Management said Liberty now plans to deploy approximately 3 GW of power projects by 2029. Stock said the company expects these projects to carry “high teens unlevered returns” with long-duration ESAs, consistent with prior comments. In Q&A, Gusek said the company could achieve the 3 GW deployment entirely with reciprocating engines (“recip”) in its supply chain, though turbines could be used if a project warrants it. He emphasized modularity, reliability (including the “N+ equation”), and efficiency, while Stock said the company believes recips offer fuel and emissions advantages compared with simple-cycle turbines.
Executives also discussed project cadence, indicating deployment should accelerate from now through 2028, and said the 3 GW target is not an endpoint. On end markets, Gusek said data centers have become the larger share of the opportunity set versus earlier expectations, though Liberty is still pursuing commercial and industrial opportunities and oilfield electrification discussions.
2026 outlook: pricing headwinds, weather impacts, and power EBITDA timing
Stock said 2026 revenue is anticipated to be approximately flat year-over-year, with higher fleet utilization offset by industry-driven pricing headwinds. He also said Liberty expects increased development and overhead costs of about $15 million to $20 million tied to scaling the LPI business, contributing to lower adjusted EBITDA year-over-year. Stock added that power projects should begin contributing “in a significant way in 2027.”
Gusek said the first quarter is expected to reflect the “full realization of pricing headwinds” and winter weather disruption. He also disclosed that a recent weather event impacted close to two-thirds of Liberty’s capacity in Texas and Louisiana for up to five days, noting it was too early to quantify the full impact.
On pricing, Gusek told analysts the company has seen roughly “mid-single digits” pricing pressure, which he framed relative to the second half of 2025 as 2026 contract pricing was set during the RFP season.
In closing remarks, Gusek spoke broadly about energy affordability and reliability, citing a letter from a Massachusetts resident describing high delivery charges on a gas bill. He said “energy matters” and argued that policies aimed at net-zero targets can raise costs for households, while Liberty’s goal is to support “abundant, affordable, and reliable” energy and electricity supply.
About Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT)
Liberty Energy Inc provides hydraulic services and related technologies to onshore oil and natural gas exploration, and production companies in North America. The company offers hydraulic fracturing services, including complementary services, such as wireline services, proppant delivery solutions, field gas processing and treating, compressed natural gas (CNG) delivery, data analytics, related goods comprising sand mine operations, and technologies; and well site fueling and logistics. As of as of December 31, 2023, the company owned and operated a fleet of approximately 40 active hydraulic fracturing; and two sand mines in the Permian Basin.
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