Nabors Industries NBR Q2 2026: Big EPS Miss, Bigger EBITDA Ambition
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on July 28, 2026.
Nabors swung a 59% earnings miss but management's bullish second-half forecast to a $1 billion annualized EBITDA run rate overshadowed the loss. The contract driller raised full-year guidance to $920-930 million adjusted EBITDA as its Lower 48 rig count climbed to 73 with daily margins beating expectations.
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Nabors Industries posted a Q2 2026 loss of $2.04 per share, coming in 59% below the consensus estimate of roughly $1.28 per share — a significant shortfall that continues the contract driller's recent pattern of bottom-line volatility. Revenue, however, told a steadier story: at $814.8 million, it edged out the $810.3 million estimate by about half a percent, signaling that the top line held up even as per-share results disappointed.
The headline that appeared to matter more to management was the trajectory of operating cash flow rather than the quarterly EPS figure. Nabors raised its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance to a range of $920 to $930 million and pointed to what it described as a path toward a $1 billion annualized EBITDA run rate. Underpinning that optimism, the company's Lower 48 rig count climbed to 73, and daily margins came in ahead of expectations — two operational metrics that feed directly into EBITDA.
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Looking back at recent quarters, Nabors has swung sharply between beats and misses on the EPS line, including a notable beat in Q1 2025 and Q4 2025, so single-quarter results have been a poor predictor of direction. Investors watching NBR will likely focus on whether the rig count holds at 73 or grows through the second half, and whether management's bullish EBITDA outlook translates into results when Q3 2026 numbers are reported.