Natural Gas Services (NGS) Earnings Transcript

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DATE

Tuesday, March 17, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Chief Executive Officer — Justin Jacobs
• Chief Financial Officer — Ian Eckert
• Investor Relations — Anna Delgado

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TAKEAWAYS

• Rented Horsepower -- Approximately 563,000 at year-end, up 14% year over year, reflecting significant fleet expansion and demand for large-horsepower units.
• Fleet Utilization -- Achieved a record 84.9%, signaling high demand and operational efficiency.
• Rental Revenue -- $44.3 million for the quarter, up roughly 16% year over year, driven by fleet growth and pricing improvements.
• Adjusted EBITDA -- $21.2 million for the quarter and $81 million for the year, with both figures setting new company records; full-year EBITDA was at the high end of guidance, which was raised three times during 2025.
• Return of Capital Program -- Initiated with an inaugural dividend in the second half of the year, increased by 10% in the fourth quarter; $2.6 million was returned to shareholders.
• Fleet Additions -- 70,000 horsepower added during the year, with more than 50% of additions in the fourth quarter; about 30% of additions were large-horsepower electric units.
• 2026 Deployment -- Company contracted to deploy 50,000 horsepower of new large-horsepower units, distributed evenly through the year; electric motor drives will represent a similar portion of additions as in 2025.
• Adjusted Rental Gross Margin -- $99.6 million for the year, up $12.3 million or 14%; fourth-quarter adjusted rental gross margin was $25.9 million, representing a 1.6% sequential improvement.
• Fourth Quarter Margin Percentage -- Adjusted rental gross margin percentage was 58.5%, down about 300 basis points from the prior quarter due to a one-time physical inventory adjustment.
• Total Revenue -- $172.3 million for the year, up $15.6 million or 10%, reflecting rental revenue growth offset by exit from non-core fabrication activities.
• Net Income -- $19.9 million, or $1.57 per diluted share, both record results for the company.
• Capital Expenditures -- $121.5 million for the year, with $109.8 million as growth capital for new large-horsepower units.
• Impairment Charge -- $2.6 million non-cash impairment related to the Midland headquarters property, which is being prepared for sale.
• Interest Income -- Recognized $2.4 million in the fourth quarter, tied to IRS refund confirmation for income tax receivable.
• Income Tax Receivable -- Increased to $14.1 million in the fourth quarter; $12.3 million was received in 2026, with $1.8 million outstanding relating to the 2019 tax year.
• Effective Tax Rate -- 24.9% in 2025, up from 20.5% in 2024, primarily due to higher state taxes; projected to be about 25% in 2026 if the operational footprint remains steady.
• 2026 Adjusted EBITDA Guidance -- $90.5 million to $95.5 million, supported by contracted deployments, customer growth, and strong industry demand signals.
• 2026 Capital Expenditure Guidance -- Growth CapEx of $55 million to $70 million and maintenance CapEx of $15 million to $18 million, with maintenance CapEx rising due to scheduled major fleet service cycles.
• Asset Monetization -- $12.3 million income tax refund received and ongoing efforts to monetize real estate, including the Midland office property listing.
• Balance Sheet and Liquidity -- Maintains leverage at the low end of public peers, ensuring significant borrowing capacity for expansion, shareholder returns, and acquisitions.
• Market Tailwinds -- Management identified increasing LNG export capacity and rising electricity demand from data centers and AI as positive structural drivers for multi-year growth.
• Operational Initiatives -- Management has invested in data systems to improve uptime, predictive maintenance, and operational efficiencies; warehouse process improvements from physical inventory adjustment are expected to yield future cost savings.
• Market and Competitive Landscape -- Lead times for some large-horsepower engine components exceed one year, specifically over 100 weeks at the high end, contributing to pricing strength and favorable supply-demand dynamics.

SUMMARY

Management intends to expand into the midstream market, with recent quoting activity representing progress though no contracts have been secured. Company strategy continues to prioritize growth in large-horsepower units and electric motor drives, projecting additional margin expansion as fleet mix evolves. Notably, the company exited non-core fabrication operations, focusing resources on higher-return rental opportunities. Fourth-quarter margin percentage was impacted by a singular inventory adjustment, with optimization measures undertaken to improve efficiency in 2026. Asset monetization remains a focus, as seen with the income tax refund proceeds and the planned Midland office sale.

• CEO Justin Jacobs said, "We are currently contracted to deploy 50,000 horsepower of new large-horsepower compression units, distributed relatively evenly throughout the year."
• Capital discipline is reflected in management's reiteration that "All new units being deployed are large-horsepower compression equipment, including electric motor drive units."
• Management confirmed that the inventory adjustment was a "one-time impact in the fourth quarter," and operational changes are expected to enhance margin trajectory.
• Peer supply constraints in key engine components may enable continued pricing power, with Jacobs noting lead times of "hundred-plus week is tied to engines at the high end of the range."
• Dividend policy remains under review, with Jacobs stating, "we have a good understanding of shareholders’ desire for a consistent and increasing dividend," but without explicit forward guidance.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• Horsepower Utilization: The percentage of the rental fleet's installed compression horsepower actively serving customers at a given time.
• Adjusted Rental Gross Margin: Gross profit from the rental business segment, excluding certain non-recurring items and before corporate allocations, offering more granular visibility into operational profitability.
• Gas Lift: An artificial lift technique utilizing natural gas injection to enhance oil production from wells, commonly requiring compression equipment.
• Large-Horsepower Unit: Compression units with power ratings typically exceeding 1,000 horsepower, used for major oil and gas production or midstream applications.
• Midstream: The industry segment focused on the transportation, storage, and processing of oil and natural gas, distinct from upstream production and downstream refining/distribution.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Anna Delgado: Thank you, Luke, and good morning, everyone. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that during the course of this conference call, the Company will be making forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Finally, the Company can give no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

These and other risks are described in yesterday's earnings press release and our filings with the SEC, including our Form 10-K for the period ended 12/31/2025 and our Form 8-Ks. These documents can be found in the Investors section of our website at www.ngsgi.com. Should one or more of these risks materialize or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially. In addition, our discussion today will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, including EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted gross margin, among others. For reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable measures under GAAP, please see yesterday's earnings release. I will now turn the call over to Justin Jacobs, Chief Executive Officer. Justin?

Justin Jacobs: Thank you, Anna. Good morning, everyone. Joining me today is Ian Eckert, our Chief Financial Officer. To start, I want to once again thank the entire Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. team for their continued dedication and hard work. Our results this year reflect the efforts of the entire organization. I especially want to recognize our field team. Their commitment to delivering exceptional uptime and reliability for our customers continues to be a defining strength of this Company. As a result of our team's strong execution, Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. delivered another great quarter and record full year results in 2025.

This performance also marks the third consecutive year in which we have taken market share in the rental compression industry. Our continued growth reinforces Natural Gas Services Group, Inc.’s position as one of the fastest-growing rental compression companies and, as we enter 2026, we feel confident in our ability to drive further improvements and to continue to increase shareholder value.

Moving to our operating and financial performance in the fourth quarter and full year, we reached record levels of rented horsepower and utilization in 2025. Rented horsepower increased to approximately 563,000 by year-end 2025, a 14% increase over the prior year. Fleet utilization reached 84.9%, another high watermark for the Company. In the fourth quarter, rental revenue totaled $44.3 million, up roughly 16% year over year, reflecting continued fleet expansion and strong demand for large-horsepower compression units.

Adjusted EBITDA was $21.2 million for the quarter and $81 million for the full year, both records for Natural Gas Services Group, Inc., and the full-year number was at the high end of our guidance range, and I would note that we increased guidance three times during the course of the year. We also started our return of capital program in 2025. During the second half of the year, we initiated our inaugural dividend and subsequently increased it by 10% with the fourth-quarter issuance. In total, approximately $2.6 million was returned to shareholders in the second half of the year. This reflects our confidence in the durability of our cash generation and our disciplined capital allocation strategy.

Overall, our strong performance continues to be driven by fleet expansion, operational execution, pricing improvements, and the continued mix shift towards large-horsepower compression units. Our strong year-over-year performance demonstrates the continued growth underway at Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. During 2025, we added approximately 70,000 horsepower, with more than half deployed in the fourth quarter. Large-horsepower electric units represented approximately 30% of those additions. Looking ahead to 2026, we expect this continued momentum. We are currently contracted to deploy 50,000 horsepower of new large-horsepower compression units, distributed relatively evenly throughout the year. Electric motor drive units are again expected to represent a similar percentage of the total horsepower additions as 2025.

As we have consistently communicated, our growth investments remain focused on large-horsepower and electric units, which generate higher returns and typically carry longer contract durations. At the same time, we remain committed to a capital allocation framework that combines organic growth, shareholder return of capital through dividends and share repurchases, and disciplined evaluation of strategic M&A opportunities. Importantly, Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. continues to maintain leverage on the low end of our public compression peers, which provides us the flexibility to be offensive regardless of market conditions while also returning capital to shareholders.

Turning to the broader market environment, demand for natural gas compression remains very strong, primarily driven by domestic oil production, particularly in liquids-rich basins such as the Permian. Looking forward, we see the benefit of several tailwinds, including increasing LNG export capacity and growing electricity consumption from data centers and AI-related infrastructure. We expect these structural changes to drive growth for at least the next several years. We are also monitoring geopolitical developments, including evolving policy and supply dynamics in Venezuela and Iran. While the ultimate impact on global oil markets and U.S. production activity remains uncertain, we continue to evaluate these developments closely. Additionally, lead times for new large-horsepower compression equipment remain long.

The lead time for certain components on certain models is stretching well beyond one year. These conditions support continued pricing strength, high utilization levels, and attractive long-term growth opportunities for compression providers. Within this environment, Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. continues to win market share due to our high-reliability equipment, industry-leading service quality, strong customer relationships, and balance sheet flexibility.

I will move next to the specific growth and value drivers that continue to support the strong performance of Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. First, fleet optimization. We continue to see strong performance in rental revenue per horsepower, which increased approximately 3% in the fourth quarter compared to the prior year. This improvement reflects new unit deployments, contract renewals with increased rates, and the ongoing mix shift towards large-horsepower units. A record horsepower utilization of 84.9% demonstrates the strong demand environment for our fleet. In addition, we are investing significant time to improve the collection and use of data in all aspects of our business.

For our units in particular, these investments will further improve uptime, optimize gas flow, and will support predictive maintenance across our installed base. Second, asset utilization. In the fourth quarter, we received confirmation of $12.3 million of the income tax refund and associated interest, which was received in 2026. This represents the successful monetization of another material non-operating asset. We were very pleased to finally receive the bulk of this receivable, which represents approximately $1 per share. We also continue to pursue the monetization of real estate assets, including the listing of our Midland office property. Third point is fleet expansion. 2025 represented a significant year of fleet growth and we entered 2026 with substantial contracted deployments already in place.

All new units being deployed are large-horsepower compression equipment, including electric motor drive units. Finally, we continue to evaluate strategic and accretive acquisitions. Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. remains well positioned to pursue disciplined M&A where it complements our existing operations and enhances shareholder value. With that, I will turn the call over to Ian to review our financial results and balance sheet in more detail.

Ian Eckert: Thank you, Justin, and good morning to everyone joining us today. As Justin emphasized, the Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. team delivered a very strong year for our shareholders, reflective of significant fleet expansion and strong operational performance. To recap the full year 2025, rental revenue totaled $164.3 million, representing an increase of $20.1 million, or 14% year over year. Total revenue reached $172.3 million, increasing $15.6 million, or approximately 10%, compared to 2024. Total revenue growth was lower than rental revenue growth due to our exit from the Midland fabrication operations and our broader strategy to migrate away from non-core, low-margin fabrication activities.

Adjusted rental gross margin totaled $99.6 million, an increase of $12.3 million, or 14% year over year, reflecting continued growth of our rental fleet and improved pricing. Fourth quarter adjusted rental gross margin improved 1.6% sequentially to $25.9 million. During the fourth quarter, our adjusted rental gross margin percentage was 58.5%, which declined roughly 300 basis points compared to the third quarter and was well below our expectations. All of this decline relates to a physical inventory adjustment recorded during the fourth quarter. Importantly, it does not reflect the ongoing economics of our business. In fact, as we move into 2026, we expect continued adjusted rental gross margin percentage expansion beyond the 2025 figure of 60.6%.

This is driven by new large-horsepower unit deployments, operating leverage from our growing horsepower base, and ongoing cost discipline.

For the year, adjusted total gross margin was $100.5 million, representing a 14% increase year over year. Net income totaled $19.9 million, or $1.57 per diluted share, representing record performance for the Company. I would like to point out a few discrete items included within our 2025 results. First, we recorded a $2.6 million non-cash impairment charge related to our Midland headquarters property as we prepared the building for sale and began transitioning to an alternative leased office space. Second, we recognized $2.4 million in interest income during the fourth quarter, a result of the IRS confirming refund and interest amounts associated with our income tax receivable.

And finally, our effective tax rate for 2025 was 24.9% compared to 20.5% in 2024. This increase is primarily attributable to higher state taxes resulting from changes in state apportionment. Looking ahead to 2026, assuming our operational footprint remains generally consistent, we expect our effective tax rate to be approximately 25%.

Turning to the balance sheet, our income tax receivable increased to $14.1 million during the fourth quarter, reflecting the IRS confirmation of the refund and interest amounts owed to the Company. Of this amount, $12.3 million was received during 2026, leaving approximately $1.8 million outstanding, which relates to the 2019 tax year. As mentioned earlier, we recorded an impairment associated with our Midland office facility. While the building remained in use at year-end, we expect it to be reclassified as assets held for sale during 2026 once the applicable accounting criteria are met.

From a capital spending perspective, full year capital expenditures totaled $121.5 million, of which approximately $109.8 million is associated with growth capital expenditures for new large-horsepower compression units. This placed our growth capital spending at the high end of our guidance range and reflects the continued expansion of our fleet to support strong customer demand. As Justin mentioned earlier, 2025 also marked the initiation of our dividend program, with $2.6 million returned to shareholders during the second half of the year. We ended the year with strong liquidity and ample borrowing capacity, and our leverage remains at the low end of our public peer group, positioning the Company well to support continued fleet expansion, shareholder returns, and acquisitions.

In summary, our operating performance continues to translate into growth in adjusted EBITDA, strong operating cash flows, and increasing scale across the business. At the same time, we remain disciplined in our capital allocation approach, investing in high-return fleet expansion, while maintaining a strong balance sheet and returning capital to shareholders. With that, I will turn the call back to Justin for 2026 guidance and closing remarks.

Justin Jacobs: Thank you, Ian. We enter 2026 with record fleet utilization, significant contracted horsepower deployments, and a very active quoting pipeline. Based on this visibility, we are providing adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2026 of $90.5 million to $95.5 million. We expect continued organic growth in 2026 driven by large-horsepower deployments, expanding customer relationships, and sustained industry demand for compression services. In 2026, we expect growth capital expenditures in the range of $55 million to $70 million, which represents an increase of approximately $5 million at the low end of our prior expectations. This comes on top of hitting the high end of our range for growth CapEx in 2025.

The 2026 increase, combined with the 2025 actual performance, shows that we continue to win new contracts to drive organic growth. Based on the forward growth capital guidance now provided by our public peers, 2026 will mark the fourth consecutive year that Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. has captured market share organically. The streak is a testament to the strong competitive position we have in the market. Maintenance capital expenditures are expected to be in the range of $15 million to $18 million in 2026. Our 2025 maintenance capital came in at the low end of the guidance range, so we expect a little spillover in 2026, coupled with the capital requirements of a growing fleet.

In closing, Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. delivered record results in 2025. We achieved record rented horsepower, record fleet utilization, and record adjusted EBITDA. Looking forward, we believe the Company is well positioned for continued growth and market share expansion. Structural tailwinds for the compression industry remain strong, including LNG export growth, increasing natural gas power demand, and rising electricity consumption driven by data centers and AI infrastructure. Combined with our strong balance sheet and operational execution, these factors position Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. to continue investing in growth, increasing EBITDA and earnings, returning capital to shareholders, and pursuing strategic opportunities. Luke, we are now ready to open the call for questions.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press 7 on your phone now, and you will be placed in the queue in the order received. You can press 7 again at any time to remove yourself from the queue. We are now ready to begin. Our first question comes from Jim Rollyson with Raymond James. Go ahead, please.

Jim Rollyson: Hey. Good morning, guys, and nice job and great finish to a pretty strong year here. Justin, in the press release, and I think Ian mentioned this, you mentioned large-horsepower and electric motor drive assets are expected to expand rental gross margins. Maybe a little context, relative to the 60.6% number you printed in 2025, what is the kind of guidance range embedded, as far as margins go?

Justin Jacobs: We have not given, historically, nor are we going to at this point, a specific guidance on adjusted gross margin or gross margins overall. I think as we look at that 60.6%, we will certainly see uplift from that. Generally, in past quarters, we have given kind of in the low sixties, and that is our expectation going forward. So I would expect to see some modest uplift from that. And then beyond mix shift, looking further out into the future, we would like to see that number keep ticking up further.

Jim Rollyson: Thanks for the color. Appreciate that. And then as a follow-up, a bunch of your peers have talked about extended lead times, especially for CAT, talking 110 to 120 weeks, which is more like two years instead of one. I know you guys historically, or recently in the large-horsepower side, have been a big fan and customer of Waukesha. But maybe you could talk about what you are seeing in lead times with them and, generally, what is the current bottleneck across engines, compressors, fabrication, etc. Just kind of how that sets up for you specifically.

Justin Jacobs: What we are seeing in the lead times is, particularly at the high end of the large horsepower from our perspective of what we offer in the fleet, that is where you are seeing those hundred-plus weeks. As we look in horsepower below that, but still well in large horsepower, we have not seen significant changes over the past three to six months and certainly nothing like what we have seen specifically from Caterpillar at that high end of the range of our fleet. As we look at the other major components and the fabrication space, generally, I would say there is not a lot of change since three to six months ago.

It is probably creeping out a little bit, but the hundred-plus week is tied to engines at the high end of the range.

Jim Rollyson: Got it. Appreciate that. I will turn it back. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you, Jim. Our next question comes from Nate Pendleton with Texas Capital. Go ahead, please.

Nate Pendleton: Good morning. Congrats on the strong quarter. Can you share your thoughts on how the competitive environment evolves with the new large-horsepower units being so delayed, as you just talked about? And maybe how that can manifest for you guys as far as pricing and the potential M&A market due to that tightness?

Justin Jacobs: Thanks for joining, Nate. It is a rapidly evolving landscape, particularly at the high end of the horsepower. If you look back to not just our call, but our competitors’ calls in the third quarter, the lead times for that high end were up around half the number that it is at today. There are a number of different ways that we are able to address that. One is, as a percentage of our fleet overall, that longest lead time item, we certainly have a good quantity of those units, but it is far from a majority of our large horsepower.

And so in some of those still significant-size equipment, but less than the high end, the lead times are significantly less than a hundred weeks, and that provides us an ability to continue our growth and meet customer needs. In terms of the impact in M&A and other, I think it is too early to really look at that. This is a relatively recent and pretty material change in the competitive landscape.

Nate Pendleton: Understood. And then, perhaps for Ian, I know you have been really involved in some of the blocking and tackling that goes on behind the scenes to deliver the improving results we have seen quarter after quarter. Can you talk about maybe some of the areas of opportunity that your team has been working on from your perspective and maybe how that might manifest in the financials going forward?

Ian Eckert: Yeah. Sure, Nate. Thanks for joining the call today. So, I am going to start with that physical inventory adjustment in the fourth quarter. As part of that process, we identified a number of capability and process gaps within our warehouse operations. Importantly, we have already taken decisive actions to address those areas, and that includes targeted personnel changes and implementations of best practices across our inventory management processes. While that was a one-time impact in the fourth quarter, I think those actions that were taken ultimately help us as we move into 2026.

As those warehouse operations continue to mature, we expect to realize improved efficiencies and some degree of cost savings, which should ultimately help to support margin expansion going forward.

Nate Pendleton: Got it. Thanks for taking my questions.

Justin Jacobs: Thanks, Nate.

Operator: Thank you very much. Our next question comes from Selman Akyol with Stifel. Thank you. Good morning. Couple quick ones for me. So as you think about the environment and the competition, and you noted the longer lead times for the extremely high horsepower, is that giving you an opening at all to move beyond gas lift more into midstream? Are you seeing any opportunities for that?

Justin Jacobs: Good morning, Selman. Thanks for joining. I have spoken on a number of the recent calls that when you look at our larger horsepower that is in centralized gas lift, and you look at our large horsepower overall, we do not have any material applications in the midstream at this point. That has been a targeted area for us to focus on to add to our existing business. I can say that it is still early for us, but that we are seeing at least quoting activity in that area, and it is up to us from an execution perspective to be able to go out and win that business.

It has been a focus area not just because of recent lead times, but because we think, and have thought for a number of quarters, that it is an opportunity for us because of the similarity of the equipment.

Selman Akyol: Is that just a matter of pricing, or is it you need to get your first customer and then prove you can do it in the reliability, and then more comes pretty rapidly? Does that make sense?

Justin Jacobs: It does make sense. If you look at the evolution of our business, not over the last couple of quarters, but going back several years, we are reasonably new entrants into the thousand-plus horsepower package market. Our first 35 16s, our north of 1,000 units, are kind of 2018, 2019 time frame. We first got into that business with Occidental Petroleum. Obviously, they are now our largest customer. We now have a material number of customers, Devon Energy, where we are servicing with north of 1,000-horsepower units. I think it is a similar evolution there. Midstream is a logical next place for us to have looked and to penetrate.

We have not done that yet, but I think getting that first customer is going to demonstrate that our equipment, from a technology perspective, and the service we provide, we should have competitive advantage there as well. That is how we approach it.

Selman Akyol: Got it. Okay. Thank you for that. And then next, thinking about EBITDA growth, very robust in 2026. Clearly, you have some monetization going on, and your CapEx is coming down, so your free cash flow is accelerating. I know you highlighted your inaugural dividend and then you increased it once already, and you have this strong free cash flow coming. How should we be thinking about return of capital and the dividend in particular as we go through 2026 and beyond?

Justin Jacobs: I would repeat comments that we have made on prior calls. I think on the call after we initiated the dividend, we made clear we have a good understanding of shareholders’ desire for a consistent and increasing dividend, and we are not going to provide specific guidance other than to make it clear we understand that. That is how I would think about how we and the Board will approach return of capital overall, but the dividend specifically, in 2026.

Selman Akyol: Okay. Thank you very much.

Justin Jacobs: Thanks, Selman.

Operator: Our next question comes from Tim O’Tell with Petra Company Management.

Tim O’Tell: Good morning. I had a couple comments because, in the wake of Steve’s retirement, I wanted to just make on the way in, and wanted to just acknowledge him for a couple things. One being building a balance sheet through some very tough years, and then also seeing the growth opportunity, sort of 2019–2020, which also became interesting, obviously, signing up with Oxy and actually pivoting towards growth in large horsepower, which has obviously been a very good move.

And then also kind of later on, but not that much later than 2020, obviously working with Justin to replace himself, and that has proven so far to be a very good choice, and so I wanted to kind of congratulate him on the way out. And then one other comment that I wanted to make before I get into a couple of questions is I would still love to see some more detail around discretionary cash flow and discretionary cash flow per share and growth in that metric. A few of your competitors focus on that. I think it is appropriate.

It is more indicative of economic earnings for the Company and would love to encourage more focus on that and a little bit more information around that.

Justin Jacobs: Tim, appreciate you joining, and appreciate your comments. Just to echo on the first point for Steve, and particularly the last part you put there, I think of Steve as really a quasi-founder of this business. Having worked with him through the transition, he did an outstanding job. It was absolutely amazing for me and, I think, for the Company, and a lot of credit is due to him there. I just wanted to echo your comments on that.

Tim O’Tell: Yeah. Well, thanks for that, Justin. I think Steve, hopefully, he is listening from home or can go listen to it at some point, and anyway, we appreciate you. It was a very good run for a very good result. To a question that was just asked and just kind of feeling you out in terms of how you are looking at things going forward in terms of the growth space. Midstream, obviously, you would be well suited to fill some of that bill. There are some competitors out there you would be aware of, and a few also that are not necessarily directly in the compression space, but in related spaces, that have been looking at actually power generation.

So you have the reciprocating engine on the front end driven by natural gas to actually create pad power or maybe beyond pad power. I am wondering how you look at those two trade-offs, if you are even considering the electric generation space given the wall of demand that is coming at us. Also, related to that, I do wonder—maybe more of a question for your customers, but you are in that discussion—how the space looks at the fact that electric power will be tight, will be in demand, maybe short supply at times, and pricing on the power to drive the compression may also become an interesting topic. Could you talk to that for a minute?

Justin Jacobs: Sure. Happy to. On the power gen space, that is an area that we have looked at from an acquisition perspective and looked at a couple of specific opportunities. Some of the similarities are relatively straightforward in terms of the service model, the equipment, and the rental nature of equipment, at least in certain applications. We understand that is a similar market. I think what we have seen from one of our public competitors shows that. As we look at it, some of our questions really relate to whether we are going to see the same long-term applications as compression.

We have not seen business—at least that we have looked at yet—in the power gen space that has a similar application length that we do, particularly with our large horsepower. We are going to continue to look at it very closely and, I am sure, look at additional opportunities. As with all M&A, you never know exactly what will happen. It is kind of the sun, the moon, the stars. It is certainly on our radar, but those are how we look at it.

Tim O’Tell: Okay. Great. I kind of expected something along those lines. Wanted to feel you out a little bit on that because we have not discussed that. Another question I have—and this might be a little bit more for Ian than you, Justin—the you mentioned Oxy and, you know, Steve kind of engaged with them and started to support a lot of capital for that particular customer in the 2019–2021 space in terms of some of the going online, and one of the things I am noticing on the maintenance CapEx level is that is creeping up. I am wondering if maybe you could talk to this a little bit.

I am wondering if some of that maintenance CapEx is kind of associated with that initial bolus of that significant allocation of capital to the Oxy footprint, and whether we should expect that to level out for a few years until the next big bolus comes, reaches, let us say, five years, or if that is on a trajectory that is likely to build as we go forward more or less ratably or steadily, trailing the growth that you have put up the last couple of years?

Ian Eckert: Hi, Tim. Thanks for joining. You hit on a key point here. We have seen significant fleet horsepower growth over the last half decade, and your assumption is correct. The initial tranche of those large-horsepower units are coming up on some key maintenance events that require maintenance capital, hence the increase that we see year on year from 2025 to 2026. I believe you can expect that to continue gradually ticking upward, given the significant horsepower we have put in place over the last five years.

Justin Jacobs: Okay. Thank you. I mean, Tim, I know you know this well, but as we kind of talk to our broader public shareholder base, just to make sure they understand the maintenance cycle here, specifically for the engine, you are looking at major maintenance every three and a half years, thereabouts, and three and a half years you have a good-sized one. At seven years, you have a little bit bigger in terms of cost. The other components are roughly around that. Our expectation, with the growing fleet size, is that it will gradually drift up in proportion with our growth in fleet.

Tim O’Tell: Right. That makes perfect sense, but, obviously, it is taking a bit of a step up, and it probably helps to actually set the table for that as we go forward. Also, that kind of circles back to my comment on discretionary cash flow and discretionary cash flow per share growth as we go forward. Then I am also—this is another question kind of for Ian—is the physical inventory adjustment that you took in the fourth quarter.

Is there more of that to come as we go into the front end of 2026 to kind of set the table for growth in adjusted gross margin again, or is that really basically behind us, and going forward it is just tuning up operations more than anything else?

Ian Eckert: That is very much behind us at this point in time. That was a one-time impact in the fourth quarter. Moving forward, I do not expect continued physical inventory adjustments of that scale.

Tim O’Tell: Great. Okay. Thanks. I think that is all I have right now. Thank you, gentlemen, and another good quarter, setting up for another interesting and fruitful year. Thanks.

Justin Jacobs: Thanks, Tim. Appreciate you joining.

Operator: Thank you very much. And, again, if you have any questions, please go ahead and press 7#. Our next question comes from Rob Brown with Lake Street Capital Markets. Go ahead, please.

Rob Brown: Hi. Good morning. I wanted to follow up on your comments about increased quoting activity. Just a sense of what areas are the most active and maybe the ability to expand—I think you have 50,000 horsepower this year—how early do you have to get the quotes in to expand that 50,000, and what could it be?

Justin Jacobs: Looking at the quoting activity overall, at least from a geographic perspective, it is certainly dominated by the Permian Basin, as our existing business is, and so really no difference there from where we operate today. In terms of applications, as was said earlier in the call in one of the questions, we are seeing opportunities in the midstream, but we have not won one of those yet. On the 50,000, just to confirm, that is contracted growth that we expect to set in 2026.

We are seeing a mix of larger existing customers in terms of quoting, some customers that are very large companies but relatively small customers for us where the quoting activity is far in excess of the amount of business that we have with them today, and then some new customers in there, a number of whom we have already won some units with. I would generally describe it as broad-based.

Rob Brown: Great. Okay. Thank you. And then, just on the comments around the natural gas demand, some of the demand drivers there, do you foresee better utilization in the smaller-horsepower fleet from that, or how does that impact your business?

Justin Jacobs: I would say that we have not modeled that into our forward guidance. I think it is a reasonable expectation that we will see it. We just have not included that in. As our business is increasingly becoming dominated by large-horsepower units, the impact to the business could be a reasonable amount, but I would not describe it as particularly significant relative to the overall size of the business.

Rob Brown: Okay. Great. Thank you. I will turn it over.

Justin Jacobs: Appreciate it, Rob. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you very much. And, again, if you have any questions, please press 7#. I do not see any other questions, sir.

Rob Brown: Thank you, Luke.

Justin Jacobs: And thank you all for your questions and for your continued interest in Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. We sincerely appreciate your support, and we look forward to updating you on our progress next quarter.

Ian Eckert: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you, everyone. This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for attending.

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