• RPC, Inc. recently reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results, with sales rising to US$425.78 million for the quarter and US$1.63 billion for the year, while profitability declined to a quarterly net loss of US$3.06 million and full-year net income of US$32.08 million.
• Alongside these results, management emphasized using its balance sheet to pursue less capital-intensive growth, including selective acquisitions and investments across existing markets and the broader energy sector, while continuing share repurchases and maintaining a regular quarterly dividend of US$0.04 per share.
• Against this backdrop, we will examine how RPC’s focus on acquisitions and less capital-intensive service lines shapes its evolving investment narrative.

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What Is RPC's Investment Narrative?

For RPC to make sense as an investment right now, you would need to be comfortable with a business that is using a historically strong balance sheet to pivot toward less capital-intensive service lines and selective deals, while profitability has recently softened. The latest quarter showed higher sales but a small loss, which helps explain the sharp one-week share pullback and suggests that near-term sentiment is tied to whether management can turn revenue into more resilient earnings. The company’s intent to keep buying back stock and maintain its US$0.04 dividend signals confidence, but also raises questions about capital allocation as it hunts for acquisitions in a volatile energy services market. The upcoming board transition and any concrete M&A moves now sit alongside margin recovery as key short-term catalysts and risks.

However, one issue around how much of that dividend is covered by current earnings is something investors should be aware of. Despite retreating, RPC's shares might still be trading 33% above their fair value. Discover the potential downside here.

Exploring Other Perspectives

Three Simply Wall St Community valuations span roughly US$5.66 to US$8.56 per share, underlining how far apart views can be. Set that against RPC’s recent quarterly loss and acquisition ambitions, and it becomes clear why you may want to compare several perspectives before deciding how the story fits into your portfolio.

Explore 3 other fair value estimates on RPC - why the stock might be worth as much as 48% more than the current price!

Build Your Own RPC Narrative

Disagree with this assessment? Create your own narrative in under 3 minutes - extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd.

• A great starting point for your RPC research is our analysis highlighting 2 key rewards and 2 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision.
• Our free RPC research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate RPC's overall financial health at a glance.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.