PTEN (PTEN, Financial) is the second largest land-based drilling rig operator after Helmerich & Payne; the company also owns a fleet of pressuring pump equipment to help shale oil & gas companies fracture rocks that contain hydrocarbons. During the current market down turn, the top 10 pressure pumping companies, including PTEN, have increased their aggregate market share from 60% to 75%. PTEN has a strong balance sheet at 1x debt/EBITDA, and it has no public debt outstanding. Despite oil prices being down 70% from mid-2014, PTEN’s consensus free cash flow expectation for 2016 is $0.75 per share. PTEN is trading at less than book value and 3.5x normalized EBITDA, which we believe are attractive valuation characteristics. We added to the position in the most recent quarter.
From FPA Capital Fund (Trades, Portfolio)'s fourth quarter 2015 commentary.
