Liberty Energy Q3 2026: $1.2B Revenue, $39M Loss on Investment Hit

Liberty Energy Inc. (NYSE: LBRT), the Denver frac-services company now pitching itself as a power provider, reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $1,196.2 million — up 26.3% year over year — but a net loss of $39.1 million, or $(0.24) per diluted share. The frac business itself healed: cost of services grew 29.3% to $995.0 million, slightly outrunning revenue, yet operating income still swung to a $19.3 million profit from a $2.4 million loss a year ago as G&A leverage and lower DD&A ($113.7 million versus $123.0 million) offset the cost pressure. What sank the bottom line sits below the operating line: a $62.9 million loss on investments against a $68.4 million gain last year — a $131.2 million negative swing that overwhelmed the $21.7 million operating improvement and a $5.0 million drop in net interest expense to $5.9 million after the revolver was repaid. Pretax income fell $104.5 million to a $(49.5) million loss, softened only by a $10.4 million tax benefit.

The non-GAAP view confirms the operations story: adjusted EBITDA of $142 million rose 11% from $128 million (though down 6% sequentially from $151 million), and adjusted net income of $10 million, or $0.06 per share, reversed an adjusted $10 million loss last year. Cash is being converted, then immediately reinvested: nine-month operating cash flow of $364.3 million fell 12.0% while purchases of property, equipment and construction in progress nearly tripled to $1,006.8 million. The funding came from two zero-coupon convertible issues — $770.0 million of 2031 notes in February and $525.0 million of 2032 notes in March, $1,295.0 million combined — part of which repaid the $230.0 million revolver and $186.5 million of which went to capped-call hedges. Long-term debt now stands at $1,278.7 million versus $241.5 million at year-end, property and equipment is up $721.6 million to $2,775.8 million, and cash rebuilt to $119.0 million. Shareholders still got paid: $15 million of dividends in the quarter ($45.0 million nine-month), with the quarterly rate raised 11% to $0.10 starting in Q4.

The Headline Numbers​

* Balance-sheet figures as of September 30, 2026 versus December 31, 2025.

Nine-month revenue of $3,405.9 million is up 14.8% year over year, but nine-month net income of $26.6 million is down 80.2% and EPS sits at $0.16 — the investment portfolio's round trip from a $155.9 million nine-month 2025 gain to a $2.7 million loss explains most of it. Meanwhile the strategic story accelerated: Liberty Power Innovations signed a development agreement to deliver 1.2 GW of integrated power services at data-center campuses, validated its kit at the DOE's grid-simulation testbed, and posted record 60%+ natural-gas substitution across the frac fleet. Whether the market prices LBRT as a cyclical frac stock or a power-growth story now hinges on that pipeline converting.

Five years in the ledger: boom, harvest, reinvest​

The ledger runs FY2021–FY2025 plus this quarter. Revenue ran from $2,470.8 million in the 2021 loss year to a $4,747.9 million FY2023 peak, then eased to $4,006.1 million; attributable net income traced the same arc from a $(179.2) million loss to $556.3 million and back to $147.9 million, with EPS peaking at $3.15. The harvest years returned cash aggressively — $127.4 million of buybacks in FY2024 plus dividends climbing from $0.29 to $0.33 per share — while 2026 flipped the switch to reinvestment: $1.3 billion of zero-coupon converts funding a $1.0 billion nine-month capex sprint. Artifacts worth a look: FY2022's $76.2 million TRA-remeasurement loss, the non-controlling interest that died out in FY2023, and the Oklo/Tamboran/Nomad investment lines that the 10-Q now folds into one. Every annual income statement and balance sheet, plus this quarter's 10-Q statements, is modeled as examinable Beancount below.

Sources​

• Q3 2026 earnings release (Form 8-K exhibit, October 21, 2026)
• Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026
• Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025