Weatherford International (NasdaqGS:WFRD) Q4 2025 Earnings call February 04, 2026 08:30 AM ET Speaker11Please also note, today's event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Luke Lemoine, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development. Please go ahead.Speaker10Welcome, everyone, to the Weatherford International fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings conference call. I'm joined today by Girish Saligram, President and CEO, and Anuj Dhruv, Executive Vice President and CFO. We'll s ...

Metaplanet (3350) expects its revenue to nearly double this year after a volatile end to 2025 that saw the firm post a paper loss of over 100 billion yen ($650.6 million) over bitcoin’s sharp correction. The Tokyo-listed company revised its full-year FY2025 forecast and released its outlook for FY2026, showing operating income and sales far exceeding earlier projections thanks to its expanding Bitcoin Income Generation business. That unit uses the company’s bitcoin (BTC) holdings as collateral to genera ...

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Financial Products - Metaplanet unveils two preferred-share products [1] - MARS: Monthly adjustable, low-volatility income [1] - MERCURY: Fixed dividends with Bitcoin-linked upside [1]

Financial Data and Key Metrics Changes - In Q3 2025, the company generated $99 million of adjusted free cash flow with a conversion rate of 36.8% [14][15] - Adjusted EBITDA for Q4 is expected to be between $274 million and $287 million, improving upon prior levels [19] - The net leverage ratio is approximately 0.5 times, with liquidity around $1.6 billion [18] Business Line Data and Key Metrics Changes - North America saw a slight sequential increase due to seasonal recovery in Canada, but U.S. land operations declined [5][6] - Latin America improved revenues by 10% sequentially, primarily driven by Mexico, although revenues are still down approximately 60% year-over-year [6][8] - The MENA-Asia region posted another quarter of sequential growth, led by the UAE, Qatar, Australia, and Thailand [6][7] Market Data and Key Metrics Changes - The company noted rising pricing pressure in several markets, particularly in commodity-type services [27] - The Middle East is experiencing the most significant pricing pressure, while differentiated product lines are less affected [28] - Customer spending trends for the next year remain uncertain, with expectations of a soft first half of 2026 [11][60] Company Strategy and Development Direction - The company is focused on cost optimization and margin expansion rather than chasing market share at unfavorable cash outcomes [21][22] - A multi-year cost optimization program is in place to achieve sustainable productivity gains through technology and lean processes [22][66] - The company is committed to enhancing working capital efficiency to drive free cash flow conversion to a sustainable 50% [22][43] Management's Comments on Operating Environment and Future Outlook - Management expressed cautious optimism about slight improvements in Mexico and the potential for growth in the second half of 2026 [6][11] - The company anticipates that the softness in the market will persist for several months, but offshore activity may improve in the latter half of 2026 [11][60] - The management remains confident in the company's ability to navigate the current market challenges and emerge stronger [21][23] Other Important Information - The company has repurchased approximately $193 million worth of shares over the past five quarters, including $7 million in Q3 [8][17] - A significant contract was awarded by Petrobras in Brazil for $147 million, showcasing the strength of the company's technology [9][10] - The company is undergoing a full-scale ERP cloud-based implementation expected to enhance operational efficiencies by 2027-2028 [75] Q&A Session Summary Question: Pricing pressure in certain markets - Management noted pricing pressure primarily in commodity-type services, especially in the Middle East, but less so in differentiated product lines [27][28] Question: Recovery in Saudi Arabia - Management indicated that Saudi Arabia is expected to see a rebound in activity, primarily driven by gas, with oil activity also contributing [33][34] Question: Optimism regarding Mexico - Management expressed cautious optimism about stabilization in Mexico, with recent payments indicating a positive trend [40][42] Question: DRE margins improvement - Management attributed margin improvements to cost structure stabilization and increased activity in Latin America [46][47] Question: Free cash flow guidance - Management indicated that the $100 million free cash flow guidance includes conservatism, with potential for higher outcomes depending on payments from Mexico [51][54] Question: Overall spending levels for 2026 - Management expects a soft first half of 2026 but anticipates a rebound in the second half, particularly in offshore markets [60][62] Question: Cost optimization impact on margins - Management highlighted that cost optimization efforts have already led to significant savings and are expected to continue supporting margin improvements [66][68] Question: Impact of intelligent completions on financial results - Management expressed excitement about new technologies, which are expected to enhance margins and improve cash flow conversion [70][71] Question: ERP implementation benefits - Management discussed the ERP implementation as a transformative initiative that will enhance operational efficiencies and support margin improvements [75][76]

Financial Data and Key Metrics Changes - In Q3 2025, the company reported adjusted free cash flow of $99 million, with a conversion rate of 36.8% [14][17] - EBITDA margin expanded by over 70 basis points despite market headwinds [6] - The company has paid four quarterly dividends of $0.25 per share and repurchased approximately $193 million worth of shares over the past five quarters [7] Business Line Data and Key Metrics Changes - North America saw a slight sequential increase due to seasonal recovery in Canada, but this was offset by a decline in U.S. land operations [4] - Latin America improved revenues by 10% sequentially, primarily driven by Mexico, although revenues are still expected to be down around 60% for the year [5] - The MENA and Asia regions posted another quarter of sequential growth, led by the UAE, Qatar, Australia, and Thailand [5] Market Data and Key Metrics Changes - The ESSR region remained relatively flat quarter on quarter, with some countries offsetting weakness in the UK [5] - Pricing pressure is noted in commodity services, particularly in the Middle East, while differentiated product lines are less affected [27][28] Company Strategy and Development Direction - The company is focused on evolving operations, maximizing cash generation, and maintaining margins rather than chasing market share [21] - A multi-year cost optimization program is in place to achieve sustainable productivity gains through technology and lean processes [23] - The company is committed to improving working capital efficiency to drive free cash flow conversion to a sustainable 50% [23] Management's Comments on Operating Environment and Future Outlook - The management expressed cautious optimism for slight improvements in Mexico and the MENA-Asia region in 2026 [5][10] - The overall market remains soft, with expectations of year-on-year comparisons being down in the first half of 2026 [10] - The company anticipates a rebound in offshore activity and incremental onshore activity in the second half of 2026 [10][11] Other Important Information - The company has expanded its credit facility by $280 million and announced a private offering of $1.2 billion in senior notes [18] - The net leverage ratio is approximately 0.5 times, with liquidity around $1.6 billion [18] Q&A Session Summary Question: Pricing pressure in certain regions - Management noted pricing pressure primarily in commodity services, especially in the Middle East, but less so in differentiated product lines [27][28] Question: Improvement in Saudi Arabia's market - Management indicated that Saudi Arabia is expected to find a bottom, with potential for growth driven by gas and some oil activity [30][31] Question: Stability in Mexico - Management expressed cautious optimism regarding Mexico, noting two quarters of sequential improvement and a more stable operational environment [34][35] Question: Free cash flow guidance - Management indicated that the $100 million free cash flow guidance includes conservatism, with potential for higher outcomes depending on payments from Mexico [44][45] Question: Cost optimization impact on margins - Management highlighted that cost optimization efforts have led to significant savings and are expected to support margin improvements in a flat-to-up market environment [58][60] Question: ERP implementation - Management discussed a multi-year ERP implementation aimed at improving supply chain management and operational efficiencies, with expected benefits for margins [64][66]

Core Viewpoint - The article discusses the intersection of simulation technology, real data, and world models in the context of embodied intelligence, highlighting the ongoing debate about the importance of simulation versus real data and the potential breakthroughs in world modeling [3][11]. Group 1: Roundtable Discussion - The roundtable focuses on the "data dilemma" in embodied intelligence, featuring four young scientists who explore the boundaries between simulation and real interaction, as well as the technological advancements in world models like Genie [3][11]. - Sergey Levine's assertion that real data is irreplaceable is examined, questioning whether this is a strategic choice or an inevitable path in AI evolution [11]. Group 2: Key Participants - Li Hongyang, an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong, leads the OpenDriveLab and has made significant contributions to end-to-end autonomous driving solutions, including the award-winning UniAD [4]. - Zhao Hao, an assistant professor at Tsinghua University, specializes in computer vision related to robotics and has co-founded over ten startups since 2009 [5]. - Gu Jiayuan, an assistant professor at ShanghaiTech University, focuses on generalizable robotic decision-making models and has received multiple awards for his research [6][7]. - Mu Yao, an assistant professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, has published extensively in top conferences and has received numerous academic honors [7].

Core Insights - The 42nd International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) will be held in Vancouver, Canada, from July 13 to 19, 2025, with a significant increase in submissions this year [1] - A total of 12,107 papers were submitted, marking a 28% increase from the previous year, with an acceptance rate of 26.9% as 3,260 papers were accepted [1] - The article discusses both high-quality accepted papers and controversial rejected papers, providing a platform for discussion among researchers [1] Accepted High-Quality Papers - Spotlight papers are the highest recommended by ICML, including notable titles such as "Neural Discovery in Mathematics" and "Monte Carlo Tree Diffusion for System 2 Planning" [3][5] - The paper "MARS: Unleashing the Power of Variance Reduction for Training Large Models" achieved an average score of 4.25, showcasing a variance reduction adaptive optimizer framework with a convergence rate of (T⁻²/³), outperforming AdamW's (T⁻¹/²) [7][8] - "EmbodiedBench: Comprehensive Benchmarking Multi-modal Large Language Models for Vision-Driven Embodied Agents" received an average score of 4.5 and includes 1,128 test tasks across various environments [10] Controversial Rejected Papers - Some rejected papers, despite high evaluations, have raised concerns among researchers regarding the review process [12][15] - Instances of low-quality reviews and discrepancies in scoring have been reported, with some researchers receiving incomplete and irrelevant feedback [18][20] - The article highlights the contradictions in the review process, where some papers with lower scores were accepted while higher-scoring papers were rejected [12][20]