Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. PTEN

Competitive advantage analysis · energy

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
36/100
Developing

Ranked against 101 peers in Energy: Upstream (E&P/Drilling)

About Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc.

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides drilling and completion services to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in the United States, Canada, Colombia, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Drilling Services, Completion Services, and Drilling Products. The Contract Drilling Services segment engages in the provision of contract and directional drilling, and measurement-while-drilling (MWD) services in onshore … Full PTEN analysis →

Key strengths

  • Revenue Growth Consistent Revenue growth volatility is low (stability score 0.77), suggesting sticky customer base.
  • Strong Liquidity Buffer Liquidity position is strong (score 0.77), providing operational cushion.

Key risks

  • Commodity Pressure / Weak Differentiation Gross margin at 4.5th percentile with high volatility suggests weak pricing power or commoditized products.
  • ROIC Below WACC or Peers ROIC at 23.0th percentile suggests inefficient capital deployment.

The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.

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Pricing Power

Weak
13
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Signals, strengths and risks for Pricing Power

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Signals, strengths and risks for Cost Advantage

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Signals, strengths and risks for Customer Stickiness

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Signals, strengths and risks for Capital Efficiency

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Signals, strengths and risks for Resilience

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Signals, strengths and risks for Scale & Market Position

Where PTEN ranks in Energy: Upstream (E&P/Drilling)

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. ranks #71 of 102 scored companies in Energy: Upstream (E&P/Drilling) by moat score — the top 70%. The widest moat in the group is Texas Pacific Land Corporation (TPL) at 84/100.

# Company Moat score Rating
67 Granite Ridge Resources, Inc. GRNT 40/100 Developing
68 Chord Energy Corporation CHRD 39/100 Developing
69 Helmerich & Payne, Inc. HP 37/100 Developing
70 Seadrill Limited SDRL 37/100 Developing
71 Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. PTEN 36/100 Developing
72 Transocean Ltd (Switzerland) RIG 36/100 Developing
73 Tamboran Resources Corporation TBN 34/100 Developing
74 Obsidian Energy Ltd. OBE 34/100 Developing
75 Gran Tierra Energy Inc. GTE 33/100 Developing

See every Commodities & Mining company ranked by moat score →

How PTEN scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 12 · 20% of the moat score

Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.

Cost Advantage

Score 45 · 15% of the moat score

A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.

Customer Stickiness

Score 50 · 15% of the moat score

Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.

Capital Efficiency

Score 24 · 18% of the moat score

Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.

Resilience

Score 49 · 17% of the moat score

Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.

Scale & Market Position

Score 45 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding PTEN's moat

What is Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc.'s moat score?

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. (PTEN) scores 36 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as developing. It ranks #71 of 102 scored companies in Energy: Upstream (E&P/Drilling), the top 70%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 101 companies in Energy: Upstream (E&P/Drilling). Its strongest defense is Customer Stickiness (50/100) and its weakest is Pricing Power (12/100).

How does Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. compare with other Energy: Upstream (E&P/Drilling) companies?

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. ranks #71 of 102 scored companies in Energy: Upstream (E&P/Drilling) by moat score. The widest moat in Energy: Upstream (E&P/Drilling) is Texas Pacific Land Corporation (TPL) at 84/100. The companies ranked closest are Seadrill Limited (SDRL) at 36 just above it and Transocean Ltd (Switzerland) (RIG) at 36 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 101 companies in Energy: Upstream (E&P/Drilling). The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc. scored with the Corporate Default template?

Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.

Which competitive defenses are measured for Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc.?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and PTEN scores: Pricing Power (12), Cost Advantage (45), Customer Stickiness (50), Capital Efficiency (24), Resilience (49), Scale & Market Position (45). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.

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