Liberty Energy upgraded at Citi, seeing more room to run on potential power deal

[Drilling Fracking Rig at Sunrise]
grandriver/E+ via Getty Images

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/LBRT]) +1.5% in Tuesday's trading as Citigroup upgraded the fracking services provider to Buy from Neutral with a $21 price target, believing the stock still has room for further gains after its nearly 40% run-up following Q3 earnings [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4505029-liberty-energy-non-gaap-eps-of-0_06-beats-by-0_01-revenue-of-947_4m-misses-by-17_4m] and the decision to raise power investment toward $1.5 billion even without a contract in hand.

The move likely will likely extend Liberty's (NYSE:LBRT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/LBRT]) period of outspending into 2027 and modestly re-lever the balance sheet, but the investment also will accelerate the corporate transition with power contributing 35%-40% of EBITDA, according to Citi analyst Scott Gruber.

After the pop in Liberty's (LBRT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/LBRT]) stock, Gruber said the question now is whether the company will capture a quality data center contract. "We believe so," Gruber wrote, "as onsite generation appears primed to ramp given accelerating AI investment, but at a pace that utility scale additions would struggle to match. Onsite generation is the next technology that could scale, and we believe LBRT will participate."

MORE ON LIBERTY ENERGY

* Liberty Energy: Making A Decisive Shift Away From Oil And Toward Power Generation [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4831061-liberty-energy-decisive-shift-away-from-oil-toward-power-generation]
* Liberty Energy Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4830831-liberty-energy-inc-lbrt-q3-2025-earnings-call-transcript]
* Liberty Energy: A Hold In Current Market Conditions [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4817265-liberty-energy-hold-in-current-market-conditions]