Completions Thursday: KLX Recovering, Forum at 11-Year Backlog High, RPC Holds Dividend

KLXE | NASDAQ | FET | NYSE | RES | NYSE | Source data: KLX Energy Services Q4 2025 8-K (filed April 8, 2026), Forum Energy Technologies Q4 2025 8-K (filed February 20, 2026), RPC Inc. dividend 8-K (filed April 28, 2026)

The completions sector is sending a split-panel read on Q1 2026 activity. Forum Energy Technologies entered the year with its highest backlog in 11 years. KLX Energy Services is holding modest profitability despite headcount contraction. RPC maintained its dividend but has yet to report Q1 results. Together, the three companies paint a picture of a completions sector that is neither recovering nor rolling over — it's surviving at $96 WTI while positioning for the demand inflection it has been promised for two years.

Forum's 11-Year Backlog High: Equipment Orders Say What the Rig Count Doesn't

Forum Energy Technologies doesn't run frac pumps. It builds the equipment that completions crews run. That distinction matters when reading its Q4 2025 results, because Forum's backlog is a leading indicator rather than a coincident one.

Forum reported Q4 2025 revenue of $202 million, roughly flat quarter-over-quarter, but the number that matters is backlog: $312 million entering 2026, up 46% year-over-year and the highest level in 11 years. Book-to-bill for the year came in at 113%, meaning Forum booked $1.13 in orders for every dollar it shipped. That's not a company treading water — it's a company building a forward pipeline.

Per Forum's Q4 8-K disclosure, 2026 guidance calls for revenue of $800 to $880 million, adjusted EBITDA of $90 to $110 million (up 16% at the midpoint vs. 2025), and free cash flow conversion of 65%. The company explicitly flagged market share gains and new product commercialization as the drivers, not macro expansion.

CIR Analysis: Forum's backlog strength is structural, not cyclical. International markets for drilling capital equipment and coiled tubing tooling have driven the order book, which partially insulates FET from the North America frac pricing depression that's been compressing peers since Q3 2024. The 46% backlog expansion tells operators that equipment lead times are stretching — if completions activity accelerates through H2 2026, Forum is a beneficiary with protected revenue visibility.

KLX: Holding the Line at Cycle Bottom

KLX Energy Services is the company that tells you what's actually happening in the field. It's running wireline units, coiled tubing spreads, directional drilling kits, and production intervention services across the Rockies, Southwest, and Northeast/Mid-Con. If completion activity is soft, KLX feels it immediately.

KLX's Q4 2025 investor deck, filed April 8 via 8-K, shows LTM revenue of $637 million and LTM adjusted EBITDA of $76 million — but the LQA EBITDA of $90 million (annualizing Q4 alone) signals sequential improvement. The EV/LQA EBITDA multiple sits at 3.4x at current equity market cap of $56 million, with enterprise value of $309 million. That enterprise value figure tells you everything about the credit market's view of the company: S&P rates KLXE CCC+, Moody's Caa1.

Q4 revenue by segment: Northeast/Mid-Con $60M, Southwest $51M, Rockies $46M. Total Q4 revenue of $157 million was the base for the LQA EBITDA improvement.

CIR Analysis: KLX's credit rating and sub-$60M equity cap are not incidental details — they define the constraint on this company's ability to compete for capital equipment upgrades or acquisitions. At the same time, the sequential EBITDA improvement from $76M LTM to $90M LQA suggests the service line rationalization and cost discipline are translating into margin recovery even with flat North America activity. If WTI holds above $95 into Q3, KLX's completion services franchise is positioned for a meaningful earnings acceleration. The risk is that the company runs out of liquidity runway before the cycle turns.

RPC: Dividend Maintained, Q1 Results Pending

RPC Inc. is the one completions-adjacent company in this cluster that hasn't reported Q1 2026 results yet. Its April 28 8-K disclosed only one piece of news: the quarterly dividend maintained at $0.04 per share, payable June 10 to shareholders of record May 11.

That's not nothing. RPC has been paying dividends consistently through the cycle, which requires both earnings capacity and balance sheet discipline. RPC operates pressure pumping, coiled tubing, nitrogen, fishing, and wireline services primarily across the US onshore market. The dividend maintenance heading into Q1 reporting suggests management didn't see anything in Q1 results that required a capital conservation posture.

CIR Analysis: RPC's Q1 earnings release is expected in early May. The company's mix of services across completions and production makes it a proxy for broad North America onshore activity levels. If KLX's sequential improvement in Q4 carried into Q1 — driven by Appalachian gas completions demand tied to LNG export growth — RPC should show a similar profile. The Appalachian signal from Antero's record 3.9 Bcfe/d Q1 production (reported this morning) suggests that region's completions activity stayed elevated through the quarter.

What the Sector Read-Through Actually Says

The three companies together sketch a coherent picture. Equipment manufacturers like Forum are booking international and specialty work at 11-year backlog highs. Domestic field services providers like KLX are recovering margins sequentially but face credit constraints that limit reinvestment capacity. Diversified players like RPC are holding capital returns steady, a signal of financial confidence going into Q1 reporting.

The common thread across all three is that North America onshore completion activity has not collapsed despite the frac pricing compression visible in SLB's Q1 organic NA results and PUMP/PTEN/LBRT valuation multiples. The completions sector is running at an activity level that sustains these businesses, not one that generates the earnings recovery equity markets have been pricing in since H2 2024.

At $99.89 WTI on April 27 (per FRED daily close data), the macro backdrop should be favorable enough to support completion demand. The bottleneck isn't crude prices — it's the frac pricing market itself, where excess capacity from the 2022-2023 buildout continues to compress margins. Forum's international equipment backlog and KLX's sequential EBITDA improvement suggest the trough is behind us, but the speed of the recovery depends on whether operators accelerate completion schedules in H2 2026.

What To Watch

• RPC Q1 2026 earnings (expected early May) — the missing Q1 data point for this sector cluster. Revenue trend vs. Q4 2025 and any guidance commentary on Q2 activity.
• KLX 10-Q filing — Q1 2026 quarterly results will reveal whether the LQA EBITDA improvement sustained into 2026's first quarter or reversed on any WTI softness in early April.
• Forum backlog conversion — the $312M backlog is only valuable if it ships. Watch Forum's Q1 quarterly report for book-to-bill trend and any customer push-outs on capital equipment delivery schedules.
• Appalachian completions signal — Antero's record Q1 production confirms that Appalachian gas completions stayed active. KLX derives roughly 38% of revenue from the Northeast/Mid-Con. If Appalachian operators maintain completion cadence through mid-year, KLX's recovery thesis has legs.

Crude Intelligence Report is an independent upstream oil and gas intelligence publication. The content in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always conduct your own due diligence before making investment decisions. CIR and its contributors may hold positions in companies mentioned; any such positions will be disclosed when known. © 2026 Crude Intelligence Report. All rights reserved.

This article contains forward-looking statements and analytical opinions. Actual results may differ materially.