Weatherford International plc (NASDAQ:WFRD) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

So, our goal will be over the next few years, yes, we can get adoption to, let’s say, 12% and maybe eventually 15%, that’s a tremendous growth for the business, and that’s what we are excited about. It’s also, from my standpoint, very heartening and very encouraging to see additional players come into the space and everyone is starting to talk about it. I think that’s fantastic. We welcome the industry growing adoption, customers getting more news on this, more education on this because we think it’s better for the industry as a whole to increase MPD adoption. This is a capital-intensive theme. I have always said this is not about share. We are clearly the market leader in this product line. But for us, it’s about growth and adoption.

And so more people that come in, especially on some of the lower end side of it, we think it’s great, and we remain focused on where we can capture the highest value.

Ati Modak: Great. Thank you.

Girish Saligram: Thanks Ati.

Operator: And our next question comes from Kurt Hallead with Benchmark. Please go ahead.

Kurt Hallead: Hey. Good morning everybody.

Girish Saligram: Hey Kurt. Good morning Kurt.

Kurt Hallead: Girish, I am curious, right? You – obviously, the execution has been phenomenal as everybody has highlighted, yet the multiple still has a ways to go to catch up to when the prior management team ran the company into the ground. So, still a long way to go there. But my question for you really is on the margin progression. When you get out beyond 2024, I am not looking for a specific data point. I am just kind of trying to get inside your head a little bit, right? So, when you think about the dynamics, I am curious as to what the drivers of that margin progression are going to be. Is it going to be flow-through of pricing on existing contracts? Is it going to be volume absorption? Is it going to be pricing power on new contracts, execution, internal initiatives, probably all of the above? But if you were to rank them, what do you think is going to be the key driver to incremental margin improvement from here?

Girish Saligram: Yes. Look, so it is most definitely a bit of an all of the above, Kurt. But look, I will reiterate, look, for us, we are not going to count on incremental volumes coming through and revenue growth being the only driver. So, I would actually put that a little bit lower. For us, we are also very cognizant that while pricing has been very positive and it’s been a very good pricing environment, that’s not going to last indefinitively, right. So, we focus on the things that we can control. And to me, I think a couple of things that are going to be really important is, number one, us driving productivity within the organization, both from a manufacturing and fulfillment standpoint, but also in how we manage our support cost in the organization, how we get simpler, how we get leaner, and that’s a combination of both cycle time and just pure cost.

So, that’s going to be a significant factor. The second piece of it, and that’s the thing I am probably most excited about is the commercialization of the technology solutions that we have got. Look, we pointed out our increase in engineering and technology spend, it is the highest increase across the company from a functional spend. And we have made sure that we have prioritized that. These things take a little bit of time, right. You can’t engineer stuff overnight, but I am tremendously excited about the improvements that our engineering teams have made, our product line teams have made improving our on-time delivery, our cycle line reduction. But most importantly, the solutions that we are getting after and what we are bringing to market, and you see that in some of our technology announcements.

What we are really trying to do with those is capture the white space of where customers have very clear needs that we can go attack versus just sort of providing a me-too kind of a solution, and we think that will lead to incremental and accretive margins.

Kurt Hallead: Alright. That’s great. That’s great color. I got one more follow-up, right? There has been a merging theme here about the need to – for more power gen for AI data centers and that being natural gas fueled and obviously being sourced from the U.S. Obviously, a lot of your growth and a big piece of your business is international and offshore. I am curious as to whether or not you have had an opportunity to assess the dynamics at play with respect to this surge in power demand and the opportunities that Weatherford may have to participate?

Girish Saligram: Yes. Look, I think it comes back to, again, what we talked a little bit about in our prepared remarks, which is we see energy demand continuing to grow. Whatever that source of that might be. And we have always maintained that gas is a really important part of the energy mix. So – and we don’t see that changing any point. Now, even with depressed commodity prices, gas prices that you see in North America, we think that will eventually sort of resolve itself and get back to a healthier level. But across the world, we think this is going to be something that will drive both LNG growth as well as local infrastructure. And ultimately, it is going to drive more gas production. So, gas continues to be an important focus for us. And a lot of the solutions that we are trying to drive from a technology standpoint are also focused around that. So, it’s certainly part of the thesis.

Kurt Hallead: Okay. Thanks for that. Appreciate it.

Girish Saligram: Thanks Kurt.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question comes from Saurabh Pant with BOA. Please go ahead.

Saurabh Pant: Hi. Good morning Girish, Arun. I will just start by echoing Luke and Jim’s sentiment on just a tremendous turnaround that you continue to deliver quarter-after-quarter. So, congratulations on that, Girish, Arun.

Girish Saligram: Appreciate it.

Saurabh Pant: Hey Girish, can you still hear me?

Girish Saligram: Yes.