TechnipFMC plc FTI reported fourth-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings of 54 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 35 cents. Moreover, the bottom line increased from the year-ago quarter’s reported profit of 14 cents. This improvement was driven by the better-than-expected performance of the Subsea segment.

Revenues of $2.4 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.1%. The top line also increased from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure of $2.1 billion.

Stay up-to-date with all quarterly releases: See Zacks Earnings Calendar.

Adjusted EBITDA for the Subsea unit and Surface Technologies unit totaled $338.6 million and $53.5 million, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $329 million and $49.3 million, respectively.

FTI’s fourth-quarter inbound orders increased 90.9% from the year-ago period’s level to $2.9 billion. The company’s backlog rose at the same time. TechnipFMC’s order backlog totaled $14.4 billion as of December-end, up 8.7% from the year-ago quarter.

In the quarter, the company repurchased 2.4 million of its ordinary shares for a total of $70 million. Including a dividend payment of $21.2 million, total shareholder distributions for the quarter amounted to $91.2 million.

On Feb. 25, 2025, FTI’s board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of 5 cents per share to its common shareholders of record as of March 18, 2025. The payout, unchanged from the previous quarter, will be made on April 2, 2025. Additionally, in October 2024, the company’s board of directors approved an additional $1 billion for share repurchases. This brings the total authorization to $1.8 billion. Since the initial repurchase authorization in July 2022, the company has returned $705.5 million to its shareholders through stock buybacks.

Segmental Analysis of TechnipFMC

Subsea: Revenues from this segment totaled $2 billion, up 19% from the year-ago quarter’s $1.7 billion. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.6%. Revenue growth was driven by iEPCI™ and Subsea 2.0^® orders, which reached new records in 2024. In the fourth quarter, the company received a new iEPCI™ contract for utilizing Subsea 2.0^® technology from TotalEnergies for the GranMorgu project. Adjusted EBITDA was up about 50% from the year-ago quarter’s level. The performance of this segment improved due to a better earnings mix from the backlog and strong project execution in the quarter.

On the other hand, FTI’s inbound orders increased 112.5% year over year to $2.7 billion. The backlog rose 11.1% at the same time.

Surface Technologies: This segment recorded revenues of $319.4 million, down 10.6% year over year. The metric also missed the consensus mark of $333 million due to lower volumes in North America.

The unit's adjusted EBITDA increased 1.9%, primarily due to higher project activity in international markets. The segment’s inbound orders dropped 14% year over year. The quarter-end backlog also decreased 19.6% at the same time.

FTI’s Financials

TechnipFMC reported $2.2 billion in costs and expenses, 11.7% higher than the year-ago quarter’s $1.9 billion.

In the reported quarter, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company invested $126.2 million in capital programs and generated $578.9 million in cash flow from operations, while free cash flow decreased to $452.7 million. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

As of Dec. 31, FTI had cash and cash equivalents worth $1.2 billion and long-term debt of $607.3 million, with a debt-to-capitalization of 16.4%.

TechnipFMC’s 2025 Outlook

The company expects revenues from the Subsea unit in the range of $8.4-$8.8 billion for 2025. It also anticipates revenues between $1.2 billion and $1.35 billion for the Surface Technologies unit.

The adjusted EBITDA margin is anticipated in the range of 19-20% for the Subsea segment and between 15% and 16% for the Surface Technologies segment.

The company anticipates generating free cash flow in the range of $850 million to $1 billion for 2025.

It also expects annual capital expenditure of approximately $340 million and net interest expense in the band of $45-$55 million for the year. FTI anticipates net corporate expenses in the range of $115-$125 million.

Important Energy Earnings So Far

Let us glance through a few key energy releases from this earnings season.

Liberty Energy LBRT reported a fourth-quarter 2024 adjusted net income of 10 cents per share, which marginally beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 9 cents. This was primarily due to a year-over-year decrease in costs and expenses. However, the bottom line underperformed the year-ago quarter’s reported figure of 54 cents due to poor equipment and service execution, along with lower activity.

The company's revenues totaled $943.6 million, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.4%. The top line was also below the prior-year quarter’s level of $1.07 billion by 12.2%.

Ahead of the earnings release, Liberty Energy’s board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of 8 cents per share to its Class A common shareholders of record as of March 6. The payout, unchanged from the previous quarter, will be made on March 20.

The company returned $175 million to its shareholders through the repurchase of 3.8% of shares and quarterly cash dividends in 2024. For the quarter that ended, Liberty repurchased and retired 1,581,495 shares of Class A common stock at an average price of $17.88 per share, representing 1% of shares outstanding, for a total of around $28 million.

Energy infrastructure provider Kinder Morgan, Inc. KMI reported fourth-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings per share of 32 cents, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 33 cents. The bottom line improved from 28 cents in the prior-year quarter.

Total quarterly revenues of $3.99 billion missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.16 billion. The top line decreased from $4.04 billion in the prior-year quarter.

The lower-than-expected quarterly earnings were primarily due to decreased volumes on certain systems, asset divestitures, and lower crude, CO₂ and NGL volumes.

Schlumberger Limited SLB, a Houston, TX-based oil and gas equipment and services provider, reported fourth-quarter 2024 earnings of 92 cents per share (excluding charges and credits), which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 90 cents. The bottom line also increased from the year-ago quarter’s level of 86 cents.

The oilfield service giant recorded total quarterly revenues of $9.28 billion, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $9.18 billion. The top line improved from the year-ago quarter’s figure of $8.99 billion.

The strong quarterly earnings were primarily driven by broad-based earnings growth and margin expansion, especially in the Middle East and Asia. Additionally, advancements in AI and autonomous operations continue to contribute significantly to SLB’s growth.

SLB reported a free cash flow of $1.63 billion in the fourth quarter.

As of Dec. 31, 2024, the company had approximately $4.67 billion in cash and short-term investments. It registered a long-term debt of $11.02 billion at the end of the quarter.

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