PATTERSON UTI ENERGY INC (PTEN) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy
Forensic Analysis · Energy / Oil & Gas · as of Jun 27, 2026
PATTERSON UTI ENERGY INC (PTEN)
A forensic read on PATTERSON UTI ENERGY INC built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Grey Zone
Financial health
1.3
Altman Z-score
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
-3.7%
ROE
$3.6B
Market cap
3.92%
Dividend yield
PATTERSON UTI ENERGY INC earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its Altman Z-score is 1.3, placing it in the Grey zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-1%Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -1% and slipping from 8% — well below its ~8% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
+24.9%/yrShare-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +75% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+24.9%/yr). The count is GROWING — existing holders are being diluted. That's ~24.9% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2022 has been diluted ~75%.
$1.3BGoodwill impairments.Took $1.3B of goodwill writedowns across 3 year(s) (FY2019 ($18M), FY2020 ($395M), FY2024 ($885M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them — worth weighing on capital-allocation skill.
-42%Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~42% in FY2020 (from FY2019). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies — weigh the cut when judging reliability.
Key fundamentals
Net Margin-1.9%
Debt / Equity0.38x
Free Cash Flow$372.2M
Latest Revenue$4.83B
Return on Equity-2.9%
Revenue Growth YoY-10.3%
Go deeper — free with an account
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. An account adds the full interactive deep-dive on PATTERSON UTI ENERGY INC:
🔒The written investment read — what the numbers mean, in plain English
🔒Ask anything about PTEN's filings — AI Q&A across the 10-K, 10-Qs & 8-Ks
🔒Interactive valuation — reverse-DCF sliders, Monte Carlo & scenario stress
🔒Calibrated 12-month price forecast, with the math shown