One-glance verdict
Undervalued
$277.53 our estimate vs market $53.35
81% below our estimate, below the bear case
Fundamentals snapshot
NCS Multistage Holdings Inc
NCSM · NCM · Energy · Oil & Gas Equipment & Services
Current price
$53.35
52-week range
$34.06 - $87.36
Market cap
$140.02M
Balance sheet
Healthy
42.61x Strong cushion
Net cash $18.54M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
2 Risks
3 rewards · 2 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 13.0% last year.
- Reward Returns 14.0% on equity, ahead of 66% of its peers.
- Risk Forward P/E (18.6x) is higher than trailing (10.8x) - earnings are expected to drop.
- Risk Operating margin compressed from -1.4% to -14.6% over 3 years.
What this company does
NCS Multistage Holdings Inc
NCS Multistage Holdings sells specialized tools and provides services that help oil and gas companies get oil out of the ground more effectively. The company earns most of its revenue (the total money brought in from sales) from selling this equipment directly to energy producers for use in their wells. This means NCSM's business is closely tied to the overall health and spending of the oil and gas industry.
How the company got here
NCS Multistage was founded in 2006 to provide specialized technology for oil and gas wells. The company focused on making it easier and more precise to get resources out of complex underground rock formations. It grew by developing innovative tools and expanding its services across North America and other international markets. In a major turning point, the company was acquired by Weatherford International, a much larger energy services company, in September 2026 to become part of a broader global portfolio.
What it actually does
Think of an oil well as a very long, deep straw used to drink from the ground. NCS Multistage provides highly engineered tools and services that help energy companies get oil and gas to flow up that straw more effectively. Its products are used in a process called 'well completion' (the final steps of preparing a well to produce), especially for wells that are drilled horizontally. These tools help create and control tiny pathways in the rock, allowing trapped oil and gas to be recovered.
Fracturing Systems
This is a core part of the business, focused on a technique called 'hydraulic fracturing' (the process of pumping fluid into a well to create tiny cracks in the rock to release oil and gas). NCS provides special sleeves and tools that are installed inside the well casing (the pipe that lines the well). These tools allow operators to very precisely control the fracturing process at many different points along a horizontal well, which can be miles long. Energy companies pay for this equipment to maximize the amount of oil and gas they can get from each well.
Tracer Diagnostics
To check how well the fracturing process worked, NCS offers a service that is like a medical scan for the well. They inject special materials called 'tracers' (either chemical or radioactive particles) into the well along with the fracturing fluid. By analyzing the oil and water that flows back, they can tell which parts of the rock are producing the most. This gives customers valuable data to improve their strategies for future wells, and they pay NCS for this analysis and reporting service.
Well Construction
This business involves selling a variety of other essential tools needed to build and finish a well safely and efficiently. This includes products like 'liner hangers' (devices that securely hang long sections of pipe inside the well) and systems that help the well casing float into place, reducing risk and cost. It also includes special sleeves placed at the very end of the well to help kickstart the production process. Oil and gas producers buy these individual hardware components as needed for their well designs.
What management is betting on now
Since being acquired by Weatherford, the main strategy is integration. The bet is that by combining NCS's specialized technology with Weatherford's huge global sales network and broader product catalog, they can sell to many more customers worldwide. The goal is to offer NCS's tools as part of a larger, more complete package of services for developing oil and gas fields. This allows the combined company to compete for bigger and more complex projects than NCS could have on its own.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $277.53 vs current price $53.35
Our most-likely fair value is $277.53 a share — about 420.2% above today's price of $53.35, so the stock currently looks cheap (undervalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Healthy
Net cash $18.5M - more cash than debt. Interest coverage 42.6x.
Net debt
$-18.54M
Interest coverage
42.61x
NCS Multistage Holdings Inc's profit covers its interest bill about 42.6 times over. which is stronger than every peer shown here and 2 peers sit below 1x, which is the danger zone where profit does not fully cover the interest bill.
Healthy
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
NCSM
BASELINE
NCS Multistage Holdings Inc
Total debt $12.78M Interest coverage 42.61x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $128.87M Interest coverage 0.01x -100% vs NCSM Carries about 5655.3x less debt cushion than NCSM.
Total debt $104.20M Interest coverage 0.53x -99% vs NCSM Carries about 79.8x less debt cushion than NCSM.
Total debt $857.89M Interest coverage 2.25x -95% vs NCSM Carries about 18.9x less debt cushion than NCSM.
Total debt $51.88M Interest coverage 18.77x -56% vs NCSM Carries about 2.3x less debt cushion than NCSM.
Total debt $223.84M Interest coverage 3.20x -92% vs NCSM Carries about 13.3x less debt cushion than NCSM.
What you should know
The case for and against NCSM
3 Rewards
2 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 13.0% last year.
-
Returns 14.0% on equity, ahead of 66% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 3/10 years.
Risks
-
Forward P/E (18.6x) is higher than trailing (10.8x) - earnings are expected to drop.
-
Operating margin compressed from -1.4% to -14.6% over 3 years.
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
10.80x
Forward P/E
18.59x
P/B
1.16x
P/S
0.77x
EV/EBITDA
14.23x
PEG ratio
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Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
40.1%
Operating margin
-14.6%
Net margin
7.6%
ROE
14.0%
ROA
1.4%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
0.09x
Current ratio
4.27x
Quick ratio
2.54x
Total debt
$12.78M
Total cash
$31.32M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$181.17M
Revenue 5Y CAGR
5.7%
EPS TTM
4.94
EPS 5Y CAGR
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Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$22.18M
Free CF TTM
$20.87M
FCF margin
11.5%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
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Payout ratio
0.0%
Last ex-div date
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