Nabors Industries
NBR on NYSE. Nabors rents drilling rigs and services to oil and gas companies. Market value $1.3bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Should I look at this?
Worth a closer look
Why it could be worth it
What to watch out for
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $3.06 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 6.5 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 14 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 73 of 100. Price score: 83 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$81.22 a share, 122% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $36.66 to $112.90.
Dividend: 0.1% a year
Paid every year for at least 5 years
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
Spare cash swings from quarter to quarter here: $40 million in the past 12 months, a shortfall of $23 million in the year to December 2025.
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $2.0bn | $2.7bn | $3.0bn | $2.9bn | $3.2bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | -4.0% | 1.7% | 14.4% | 14.2% | 14.8% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 5.52 | 6.88 | 9.62 | 18.56 | 4.22 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.01bn | 0.01bn | 0.01bn | 0.02bn | 0.02bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive4 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Not enough data
- Financial strength (Piotroski)6 of 7 checks we could run
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt4.22× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsSlow, 8.3% a year
- Buying back its own sharesNo, 70% more shares since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $815 million last quarter, down 2% on a year ago.
- A loss of $22 million, compared with a loss of $31 million a year ago.
- It keeps 14 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, down from 17 cents a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $40 million. A year earlier it spent $148 million more than it brought in.
- 1% more shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit less of the company.
- Debt is $1.6 billion more than cash, down from $2.3 billion a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in 3 of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $732m |
| December 2024 | $730m |
| March 2025 | $736m |
| June 2025 | $833m |
| September 2025 | $818m |
| December 2025 | $798m |
| March 2026 | $784m |
| June 2026 | $815m |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | -$56m |
| December 2024 | -$54m |
| March 2025 | $33m |
| June 2025 | -$31m |
| September 2025 | $274m |
| December 2025 | $10m |
| March 2026 | -$15m |
| June 2026 | -$22m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 13 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 30 October 2026
Who owns it
2 long-term investors we follow own it, unchanged from 2 last quarter. 246 funds in all.
- Miller Value PartnersBill Miller IV
- Value
- $37m
- Share of fund
- 8.8%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miller Value PartnersBill Miller IV | $37m | 8.8% | |
| Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt | $2m | <0.1% | Added |
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$110m
- Vanguard Capital Management$56mAdded
- American Century Companies$54mAdded
- Dimensional Fund Advisors LP$49mAdded
- State Street$41mAdded
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$39mAdded
- Miller Value Partners$37m
- Adage Capital Partners GP, L.L.C.$35mCut
- Geode Capital Management$35mAdded
- Engineers Gate Manager LP$35mAdded
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
5 investors own more than 5%.
- Bradley BauerPassive investor14.0%Since 11 March 2025
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor7.7%+1.1 ptsSince 30 June 2026
- BRIGADE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LPPassive investorat least 4.7%−1.9 pts(filed with 2 related holders)Since 30 September 2025
- Adage Capital Management, L.P.Passive investorat least 4.7%−3.3 pts(filed with 2 related holders)Since 31 March 2026
- G1 Execution Services, LLCPassive investorat least 1.7%(filed with 4 related holders)Since 31 December 2024
- Oaktree Capital Holdings, LLCPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 31 December 2025
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
- Varde Investment Partners (Offshore) Master, L.P.Passive investorSold down below 5%Since 31 December 2025
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
Bradley Bauer Passive investor | 14.0% | 11 March 2025 | |
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 7.7%+1.1 pts | 30 June 2026 | |
BRIGADE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LP Passive investor | at least 4.7%−1.9 pts (filed with 2 related holders) | 30 September 2025 | |
Adage Capital Management, L.P. Passive investor | at least 4.7%−3.3 pts (filed with 2 related holders) | 31 March 2026 | |
G1 Execution Services, LLC Passive investor | at least 1.7% (filed with 4 related holders) | 31 December 2024 | |
Oaktree Capital Holdings, LLC Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 31 December 2025 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 | |
Varde Investment Partners (Offshore) Master, L.P. Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 31 December 2025 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 1 insider bought $500,749 of shares on the open market. 1 sold $295,360.
- Tudor David JDirectorSold
- Date
- 28 August 2026
- Shares
- 3,200
- Price
- $92.30
- Value
- $295,360
- YEARWOOD JOHNDirectorBought
- Date
- 20 February 2026
- Shares
- 6,410
- Price
- $78.12
- Value
- $500,749
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 August 2026 | Tudor David J Director | Sold | 3,200 | $92.30 | $295,360 |
| 20 February 2026 | YEARWOOD JOHN Director | Bought | 6,410 | $78.12 | $500,749 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the serious warning signs we check for were found. 1 thing worth knowing.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 13 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 31 Jul 2026 and 7 later 8-Ks.
One big customer
Worth knowingOne customer brings in a big share of sales: 30% last year. Losing that customer would hurt.
“One customer, Saudi Aramco, accounted for approximately 30%, 31% and 26% of our consolidated operating revenues during the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively, which operating revenues are primarily included in the results of our International Drilling reportable segment.”
From the 10-K filed 13 February 2026, Item 1. Business. Read it in the filing
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
- It carries a lot of debt: 4.2× its equity.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
What changed in the risks this year
Companies must list what could hurt them each year. These are the parts that changed since last year’s report.
Voting power in some of our common shares held or controlled by our Board of Directors (“Board”) could limit a shareholder’s ability to influence our actions.
Could happenIn connection with the Parker acquisition, we entered into voting and lock-up agreements (the “Voting & Lock-Up Agreements”) with certain shareholders of Parker (the “Supporting Shareholders”) that became shareholders of ours upon consummation of the acquisition. Among other things, the Voting & Lock-Up Agreements require the Supporting Shareholders to vote shares received as consideration in the acquisition and any other shares they may own in favor of any candidate nominated as a director to our Board by the Board itself or the appropriate committee, vote in favor of any other proposals to the shareholders that the Board recommends shareholders at-large vote in favor of or the Board has already approved and vote against any Board candidate not recommended or approved by the Board. The Voting & Lock-Up Agreements also contain standstill provisions.
Read moreWe may be subject to changes in tax laws and have additional tax liabilities.
Could happen The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (“OBBBA”) was signed into law on July 4, 2025. OBBBA included many provisions such as the permanent extension of certain expiring provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, modification to the international tax framework and the restoration of favorable tax treatment for certain business provisions. The legislation has multiple effective dates, with certain provisions already in effect and others implemented through fiscal year 2027. We do not expect the legislation to have a material impact on our effective tax rate.
Read more
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.