Quintana (QES) To Divest Pressure Pumping Assets, Cut Costs (Revised)

Of late, Quintana Energy Services (NYSE:QES) announced its exit from the pressure pumping business for conventional oil wells in Kansas and Bartlesville, OK to reduce costs and sustain itself in the tough operating environment.

As part of expense management measures, Quintana has sold its legacy conventional pressure pumping assets in Kansas and Bartlesville to the privately-held Hurricane Services for $4.4 million. The assets, which included 12,000 hydraulic horsepower, five facilities and 26 employees, fetched revenues of $2.2 million for the first half of 2019. QES retained the remainder of its pressure pumping operations.

In a bid to cut costs, Quintana also dissolved its COO position, earlier this month. This cost-controlling move will lower the company’s expenses by $1.42 million (plus a base salary of $393,077).

Further, Quintana announced it had reduced its headcount by almost 10% in the first half of 2019, representing more than 130 employees.

This Houston, TX-based company is bearing the brunt of decelerating demand growth due to the upstream operators’ constraints in the capital expenditure budget.

Apart from cost issues, Quintana is looking to decrease debt to trim its interest outgo. For the recently reported second quarter, Quintana incurred interest expenses of $853,000, higher than the first quarter’s $671,000 and the year-ago quarter’s $433,000. Unsurprisingly, Quintana’s earnings missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last four quarters.

The disposal of the legacy conventional pressure pumping business along with the other steps taken by the company is likely to help it improve its leverage and slash costs.

Quintana Energy Services Inc. Price

Quintana Energy Services Inc. price | Quintana Energy Services Inc. Quote

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Quintana carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).Better-ranked players in the energy space include Enbridge Inc (NYSE:ENB) , Dril-Quip, Inc. (NYSE:DRQ) and World Fuel Services Corporation (NYSE:INT) , each holding a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Enbridge earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters.

Dril-Quip earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the previous four quarters.

World Fuel Services earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters.

(We are reissuing this article to correct a mistake. The original article, issued on August 21, 2019, should no longer be relied upon.)