Piper Jaffray Simmons Energy analyst John Watson noted that land drillers' stocks were up 30% on average in Q4, which he sees making the valuations for the group "less compelling." While continued investment in technology will be a clear positive for those with best-in-class rigs - including Helmerich & Payne (HP), Nabors Industries (NBR), Patterson-UTI (PTEN) and Precision Drilling (PDS) - Watson thinks the "inconvenient truth for the land drillers" is that E&P capital discipline will preclude the group from earning its cost of capital in the near-term. Still, he maintains Overweight ratings on Helmerich & Payne, Patterson-UTI and Precision Drilling and has a Neutral rating on Nabors Industries.

Reports Q1 revenue $528M, consensus $387.19M. CEO Kevin Neveu stated, "Precision had an impressive start to 2024 and we expect to build on this momentum throughout the year. Our Canadian drilling operations, international business, and completion and production services all outperformed during the first quarter and we more than doubled our cash from operations compared to the same period last year. We continued to focus on shareholder returns and repurchased $10 million of common shares in the first quarter. We remain firmly committed to repaying debt between $150 million and $200 million in 2024 and allocating 25% to 35% of our free cash flow to share buybacks..."

Reports Q1 revenue $734M, consensus $728.89M. The first quarter results included a gain, related to mark-to-market treatment of Nabors warrants, of $6M, or 62c per diluted share. Anthony Petrello, Nabors Chairman, CEO and President, commented, "Our first quarter operating results were stronger than we expected, driven by resilient pricing and lower costs in our Lower 48 drilling operations, as well as higher than forecast OEM repair revenue and energy transition revenue in our Rig Technologies segment. Rig count increased in our International segment, driven by rig startups in Saudi Arabia and Algeria, as part of our commitment to deploy seven rigs in these two countries during 2024. We have also received recent awards in Argentina for three more rigs. I believe we are in the midst of the largest opportunity that we've seen in the last decade to strengthen our international business. Pricing in the Lower 48 market remained firm, as utilization of our highest specification rigs stayed strong across several important markets. Average rig count increased compared to the prior quarter, but was slightly below our estimates, mainly reflecting activity reductions in natural gas basins. Results in our Drilling Solutions segment reflected reduced activity in the Lower 48, partially offset by better growth from international markets."