What happened
Shares of Liberty Oilfield Services (LBRT -0.22%) jumped as much as 14.9% on Thursday morning. Fueling the oil field service company's stock price was its strong first-quarter results.
So what
Liberty Oilfield Services generated $793 million of revenue in the first quarter, up 16% from last quarter. That's its highest revenue since going public four years ago. The oilfield service company is benefiting from a boom in demand for fracking equipment and services fueled by higher oil prices. The company also benefited from last year's acquisitions of OneStim and PropX, which expanded its services and helped reduce the impact of supply chain constraints.
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Liberty noted that tight oil and gas supplies along with geopolitical tensions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine are benefiting the North American energy market. Liberty is seeing robust demand in the frac service market, with capacity nearing full utilization. Because of that, the company expects its revenue to grow by another 10% in the second quarter, which should drive higher margins and partially offset the pressures from inflation.
The company also unveiled that it's updating its name to Liberty Energy. That new name reflects its expanded scope following last year's acquisitions.
Now what
Liberty believes it's in the early part of the next upward cycle for the oil and gas market. This outlook suggests it should see steadily growing demand for its services in the coming quarters. That should drive its revenue and earnings higher, potentially providing the fuel for the stock price to continue rising.
