# Liberty Energy (LBRT.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/LBRT

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:29:45.971Z. Financial observations: FY2015–FY2026.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: fail; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $16.70 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $14.96 per share, central $18.19 per share, high $20.77 per share. Buy at or below the central value $18.19 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:29:45.971Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 10.7% at the stated quote. About 10.7% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; US 10-year bond 5.1% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 4 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 4

- Years with a net loss: 2

- Operating margin variation: 1.86×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 0.12×

- FY2018: 0.14×

- FY2019: 0.06×

- FY2020: -0.15×

- FY2021: -0.07×

- FY2022: 0.12×

- FY2023: 0.16×

- FY2024: 0.09×

- FY2025: 0.02×

- LTM to Jun 2026: 0.01×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- ROIC, median of available years: 13.2%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -8.9%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 1.3 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 12.8%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 11.4%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 12.4%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 4.3%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -14.0%

- FY2017: 29.5%

- FY2018: 61.6%

- FY2019: 14.4%

- FY2020: -8.8%

- FY2021: -8.9%

- FY2022: 28.6%

- FY2023: 26.0%

- FY2024: 12.1%

- FY2025: 2.1%

### economics: fail

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 0.86×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $1.1B

- Net income, five-year total: $1.2B

- Return on incremental invested capital: 6.5%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -1.8 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: -10.7 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 8.4%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: 0.64×

- FY2022: 1.00×

- FY2023: 1.00×

- FY2024: 0.54×

- FY2025: 0.36×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2018 to 2025 (7 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 29.5% vs 12.1%

- Per-share earnings: -0.13 to 1.87 (three-year endpoint medians)

- five-year and ten-year diluted share growth both above threshold

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 9.3%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 14.2%

- Market cap gain: $1.5B

- Cumulative retained earnings: $993M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 9.3%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 14.2%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2018

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value change: $2.00

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: -$0.13

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $1.87

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.81

- Average buyback yield: 3.0%

- Buyback history: 8 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $145M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $1.4B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 29.5%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 12.1%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -$1.08

- FY2017: $2.44

- FY2018: $1.07

- FY2019: $0.37

- FY2020: -$1.36

- FY2021: -$1.03

- FY2022: $2.11

- FY2023: $3.15

- FY2024: $1.87

- FY2025: $0.89

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -13.0%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.21×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 6.9%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 4.12×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.01×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -4.4%

- FY2017: -3.1%

- FY2018: -20.1%

- FY2019: -17.3%

- FY2020: -10.6%

- FY2021: -15.4%

- FY2022: -5.1%

- FY2023: -15.1%

- FY2024: -15.6%

- FY2025: -13.0%

## Holders

- [Arnold Van Den Berg](https://gigainvestors.com/VAN): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 51% since Apr 2026 · "LBRT Q2 Deep Dive: Margin Compression Overshadows Revenue Growth Amid Power Expansion" (finance.yahoo.com, Jul 2026) · sales +4.7%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:03.305Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 2.2% a year for ten years

- 2026-01-29: Liberty Energy plans 3 GW power deployment by 2029 as data center demand accelerates ([seekingalpha.com](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4544444-liberty-energy-plans-3-gw-power-deployment-by-2029-as-data-center-demand-accelerates?utm_source=feed_news_all&utm_medium=referral&feed_item_type=news))

- 2026-04-26: Liberty Energy (LBRT) Climbs 24% This Week on Strong Earnings, Supply Disruptions ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/liberty-energy-lbrt-climbs-24-102530308.html))

- 2026-07-24: LBRT Q2 Deep Dive: Margin Compression Overshadows Revenue Growth Amid Power Expansion ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/lbrt-q2-deep-dive-margin-210508402.html))

- 2026-09-30: Liberty Energy Faces Frac Utilization Headwinds, UBS Says ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/liberty-energy-faces-frac-utilization-191107478.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +4.7%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1694028/000169402826000006/lbrt-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-02.

- FY2017: $1.5B 

- FY2018: $2.2B 

- FY2019: $2.0B 

- FY2020: $966M 

- FY2021: $2.5B 

- FY2022: $4.1B 

- FY2023: $4.7B 

- FY2024: $4.3B 

- FY2025: $4.0B 

- FY2026: $4.2B 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 11.4%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1694028/000169402826000006/lbrt-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-02.

- FY2017: 17.5% 

- FY2018: 18.6% 

- FY2019: 10.2% 

- FY2022: 16.3% 

- FY2023: 20.6% 

- FY2024: 14.1% 

- FY2025: 11.4% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in oil & gas equipment & services; annual sales are USD 4 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1694028/000169402826000006/lbrt-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-02); FY2025: revenue 4006116000; grossProfit 457918000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); LBRT.US: Liberty Energy Inc.,an integrated energy services and technology company, provides hydraulic fracturing services and related technologies onshore oil, natural gas, and enhanced geothermal exploration and production companies in North America. It offers 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 proppant handling equipment and logistics software. As of December 31, 2025, the company owned and operated a fleet of approximately 40 active hydraulic fracturing; and two sand mines in the Permian Basin. It also provides services primarily in the Permian Basin, the Williston Basin, the Haynesville Shale, the Eagle Ford Shale, the Denver-Julesburg Basin, the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, the Powder River Basin, and the Appalachian Basin, as well as in the Anadarko Basin, the Uinta Basin, the San Juan Basin, and the Beetaloo Basin. The company was formerly known as Liberty Oilfield Services Inc. and changed its name to Liberty Energy Inc. in April 2022. Liberty Energy Inc. was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 11.4% to 20.6% during 2023–25; it earns 13.2% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-02); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 20.6%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-02); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 14.1%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1694028/000169402826000006/lbrt-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-02); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 11.4%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-02); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,-0.14036355207646262],[2017,0.2946343825980679],[2018,0.6159794858407701],[2019,0.14352999528626037],[2020,-0.08807241949115518],[2021,-0.08937373293088702],[2022,0.2855872405026166],[2023,0.25959759898226376],[2024,0.12076736531923497],[2025,0.02105498545625729]]; median 0.13214868030274768. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Reinvests 28.9% of cash earnings; earns 6.5% on new investment.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-02); FY2017: growth capex 230321000; upkeep 81473000; owner earnings 168501000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 1.3668820956552186.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-02); FY2018: growth capex 133725000; upkeep 125110000; owner earnings 126349000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 1.058377984788166.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-02); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 195173000; owner earnings 9209000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-02); FY2022: growth capex 136292000; upkeep 323028000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 399602000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.3410693640171971.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-02); FY2023: growth capex 181784000; upkeep 421514000; cash acquisitions 75656000; owner earnings 556317000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.4627577442357505.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-02); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 651034000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 170026000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1694028/000169402826000006/lbrt-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-02); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 595493000; cash acquisitions 15208000; owner earnings 52711000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.28851662840773273.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-02); Incremental return on capital 0.06451676030670854, from the economics test's unchanged annual inputs.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-02); Dividend observations: [[2016,6907000],[2017,372059000],[2018,6907000],[2019,14776000],[2020,4431000],[2021,168000],[2022,9164000],[2023,37684000],[2024,48310000],[2025,54478000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1694028/000169402826000006/lbrt-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-02); FY2025: cash repurchases 24882000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 2% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); LBRT.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 1.9900000000000002 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 2.2% yearly over ten years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-02); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate 0.019205627125109363. Price 16.7; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2015 owner earnings/share -0.16397988639263425 → FY2025 0.31875548030115197. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2018-01: $22.14 per share

- 2018-02: $18.59 per share

- 2018-03: $16.89 per share

- 2018-04: $19.94 per share

- 2018-05: $21.26 per share

- 2018-06: $18.72 per share

- 2018-07: $19.60 per share

- 2018-08: $19.64 per share

- 2018-09: $21.57 per share

- 2018-10: $18.98 per share

- 2018-11: $17.32 per share

- 2018-12: $12.95 per share

- 2019-01: $15.21 per share

- 2019-02: $16.38 per share

- 2019-03: $15.39 per share

- 2019-04: $14.91 per share

- 2019-05: $12.75 per share

- 2019-06: $16.18 per share

- 2019-07: $14.15 per share

- 2019-08: $10.77 per share

- 2019-09: $10.83 per share

- 2019-10: $9.21 per share

- 2019-11: $8.84 per share

- 2019-12: $11.12 per share

- 2020-01: $8.48 per share

- 2020-02: $6.69 per share

- 2020-03: $2.69 per share

- 2020-04: $4.72 per share

- 2020-05: $5.15 per share

- 2020-06: $5.48 per share

- 2020-07: $5.65 per share

- 2020-08: $6.45 per share

- 2020-09: $7.99 per share

- 2020-10: $6.68 per share

- 2020-11: $9.30 per share

- 2020-12: $10.31 per share

- 2021-01: $12.02 per share

- 2021-02: $11.69 per share

- 2021-03: $11.29 per share

- 2021-04: $11.70 per share

- 2021-05: $14.96 per share

- 2021-06: $14.16 per share

- 2021-07: $10.19 per share

- 2021-08: $10.22 per share

- 2021-09: $12.13 per share

- 2021-10: $12.92 per share

- 2021-11: $9.20 per share

- 2021-12: $9.70 per share

- 2022-01: $12.10 per share

- 2022-02: $12.48 per share

- 2022-03: $14.82 per share

- 2022-04: $16.14 per share

- 2022-05: $16.27 per share

- 2022-06: $12.76 per share

- 2022-07: $14.20 per share

- 2022-08: $15.00 per share

- 2022-09: $12.68 per share

- 2022-10: $16.91 per share

- 2022-11: $16.53 per share

- 2022-12: $16.01 per share

- 2023-01: $15.83 per share

- 2023-02: $15.25 per share

- 2023-03: $12.81 per share

- 2023-04: $12.81 per share

- 2023-05: $11.74 per share

- 2023-06: $13.37 per share

- 2023-07: $16.47 per share

- 2023-08: $15.95 per share

- 2023-09: $18.52 per share

- 2023-10: $19.70 per share

- 2023-11: $19.85 per share

- 2023-12: $18.14 per share

- 2024-01: $20.79 per share

- 2024-02: $21.38 per share

- 2024-03: $20.72 per share

- 2024-04: $22.00 per share

- 2024-05: $24.69 per share

- 2024-06: $20.89 per share

- 2024-07: $24.15 per share

- 2024-08: $20.59 per share

- 2024-09: $19.09 per share

- 2024-10: $17.07 per share

- 2024-11: $18.40 per share

- 2024-12: $19.89 per share

- 2025-01: $18.31 per share

- 2025-02: $17.27 per share

- 2025-03: $15.83 per share

- 2025-04: $11.50 per share

- 2025-05: $11.59 per share

- 2025-06: $11.48 per share

- 2025-07: $12.34 per share

- 2025-08: $11.25 per share

- 2025-09: $12.34 per share

- 2025-10: $18.11 per share

- 2025-11: $17.78 per share

- 2025-12: $18.46 per share

- 2026-01: $24.65 per share

- 2026-02: $28.09 per share

- 2026-03: $28.80 per share

- 2026-04: $33.79 per share

- 2026-05: $29.26 per share

- 2026-06: $26.19 per share

- 2026-07: $18.71 per share

- 2026-08: $19.71 per share

- 2026-09: $18.22 per share

- 2026-10: $16.70 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2019: low $1.45 per share, central $1.58 per share, high $1.76 per share

- FY2020: low $1.08 per share, central $1.16 per share, high $1.27 per share

- FY2021: low $0.72 per share, central $0.82 per share, high $0.95 per share

- FY2022: low $1.11 per share, central $1.26 per share, high $1.46 per share

- FY2023: low $1.36 per share, central $1.55 per share, high $1.80 per share

- FY2024: low $10.97 per share, central $12.48 per share, high $14.50 per share

- FY2025: low $10.43 per share, central $11.87 per share, high $13.79 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1694028/000169402826000006/lbrt-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-02.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.