Archrock Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 5, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Strong second-quarter execution: Archrock reported $213 million of adjusted EBITDA, 94.4% utilization, a 71% contract-operations adjusted gross margin, and $67 million of adjusted free cash flow.
  • Positive Sentiment: Customer demand remains robust, highlighted by an eight-year agreement covering approximately 665,000 horsepower; Archrock also cited high bookings, low unit stoppages, and equipment lead times of roughly 195 weeks.
  • Positive Sentiment: The company introduced a 2027–2030 framework calling for $1.4 billion–$1.6 billion of growth capital to add approximately one million horsepower, while targeting shareholder returns equal to 25%–35% of operating cash flow.
  • Positive Sentiment: Archrock increased its quarterly dividend approximately 10% year over year to $0.23 per share, maintained strong 3.1x dividend coverage, and ended the quarter with 2.6x leverage and $631 million of liquidity.
  • Negative Sentiment: Full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance was narrowed to $865 million–$885 million from $865 million–$915 million, reflecting near-term lube-oil and make-ready cost pressures, customer deferrals in Aftermarket Services, and higher incentive compensation.
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Earnings Conference Call
Archrock Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

There are 11 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning. Welcome to the Archrock second quarter 2026 conference call. Your host for today's call is Meighan Repine, Vice President of Investor Relations at Archrock. I will now turn the call over to Ms. Repine. You may begin.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Erica. Hello, everyone, appreciate you joining us on today's call. With me today are Brad Childers, President and Chief Executive Officer of Archrock, and Mohit Singh, Chief Financial Officer of Archrock. Yesterday, we released our financial and operating results for the second quarter of 2026. If you have not received a copy, you can find the information on the company's website at www.archrock.com. During this call, we will make forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, based on our current beliefs and expectations, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Archrock's management team. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.

Speaker 1

Please refer to our latest filings with the SEC for a list of factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements made during this call. In addition, our discussion today will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EPS, adjusted net income, adjusted free cash flow, and adjusted free cash flow after dividend. For reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to our GAAP financial results, please see yesterday's press release and our Form 8-K furnished to the SEC. I'll now turn the call over to Brad to discuss Archrock's second quarter results and provide an update on our business.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Meighan, good morning, everyone. Before we get into the quarter and our performance, I want to welcome Mohit Singh to Archrock as our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Mohit joined our team in July and brings more than 25 years of experience across the energy value chain. Mohit's public company experience, deep understanding of natural gas fundamentals, and strategic perspective will be valuable as we position Archrock for its next phase of growth. Mohit, we're excited to have you on board. Now let me turn to our second quarter results. Against a constructive market backdrop, the quarter was outstanding and showcased the quality of our platform with excellent contract operations profitability, high utilization, significant free cash flow, low leverage, and continued dividend growth.

Speaker 2

These results demonstrate the resilience of our business model and the flexibility we have to balance high return growth while returning capital to shareholders. Let me share a few highlights from the quarter. We delivered EPS of $0.38 and adjusted EBITDA of $213 million in the second quarter, supported by solid contract operations fundamentals and disciplined execution across the business. Customer demand remains healthy, as evidenced by our continued high utilization, strong bookings for new starts, low unit stop activity, and a long-term agreement we signed with an existing strategic customer covering approximately 665,000 horsepower for midstream applications. We again delivered outstanding operating performance and profitability in contract operations, including utilization of 94.4% and our seventh consecutive quarter of adjusted gross margin above 70%, with adjusted gross margin at 71% in the quarter.

Speaker 2

We translated this performance into adjusted free cash flow of $67 million in the quarter, of which we returned $39 million to shareholders through dividends. Our board recently approved our fifth dividend increase in two years, underscoring the earnings and cash flow strength of our business. We ended the quarter with leverage of 2.6 times and dividend coverage of 3.1 times, both underscoring our continued financial strength and ability to balance investing in growth while returning capital to shareholders. Overall, we're very pleased with our second quarter performance and remain confident in the strength of our core business and long-term outlook.

Speaker 2

Last night with our earnings release, we tightened our full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance range to reflect changes in assumptions for several largely external or timing-related factors, including near-term lube oil and make-ready cost pressures, AMS customer deferrals, and higher long-term incentive compensation driven by our increasing stock price. This does not reflect a change in demand fundamentals. As a result of these factors, our updated full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance range is $865 million-$885 million, compared to our prior guidance range of $865 million-$915 million. Stepping back, our long-term confidence is supported by three key advantages: the right market, the right platform, and the right balance sheet. First, we're in the right market. Natural gas remains essential to powering economic growth, supporting energy security, and meeting rising demand from LNG exports, industrial activity, and power generation.

Speaker 2

These growth drivers for natural gas correlate directly with strong demand for compression over the long term. Second, we have the right platform. Archrock has the scale, fleet quality, operating discipline, and customer relationships that we have built over time to capture that opportunity profitably. Our track record of reliable execution and strong customer service positions us to grow alongside our customers. Third, we have the right balance sheet with low leverage, significant liquidity, and strong free cash flow generation. Taken together, these advantages reinforce our confidence in our ability to compound earnings and free cash flow and deliver sustainable superior returns on capital. Looking ahead, favorable long-term fundamentals support robust growth in natural gas and compression demand. In the Permian, associated gas volumes continue to outpace oil growth as gas-to-oil ratios are expected to increase approximately 21% by 2030.

Speaker 2

This trend is increasing compression intensity across the basin and should continue to support demand for our services. Infrastructure additions provide further support with approximately 4.6 Bcf a day of Permian takeaway capacity expected to come online in the second half of 2026, and another 6.7 Bcf a day anticipated between 2027 and the end of the decade. These projects should improve basin economics and facilitate continued natural gas production growth. Longer term, LNG remains one of the most visible drivers of demand growth. Industry forecasts point to LNG-related natural gas demand reaching approximately 35 Bcf a day by 2030 and 40 Bcf a day by 2035, up from approximately 20 Bcf a day in 2026. At the same time, data center and AI-related power demand represent an additional source of upside, with natural gas-fired generation expected to play an important role in meeting growing electricity needs.

Speaker 2

Simply put, we believe the combination of growing natural gas production, expanding takeaway infrastructure, increasing LNG exports, and rising power demand create a favorable backdrop for compression demand. We stand ready to support our customers in meeting this demand growth and creating value for our shareholders. Moving to our segments, contract operations delivered a strong performance supported by excellent execution and high utilization. Customer demand remains robust across our fleet, particularly for large horsepower, and demand remains broad-based and geographically diverse across multiple operating areas. During the quarter, we signed a long-term contract with an existing strategic customer covering approximately 665,000 horsepower for midstream applications. This agreement includes an eight-year base term and a two-year extension option, underscoring the value of our fleet, the strength of customer demand, and the importance of partnering with strategic customers over multi-year development cycles.

Speaker 2

The market remains tight, with Cat engine lead times still extended at just under 200 weeks. This reflects the strength of natural gas demand, the production growth outlook, and the compression equipment required to support that growth. It also underscores the importance of securing equipment and remaining well-positioned to grow with customers, supported by our financial strength and market position. In this environment, excellent execution by Archrock and the compression industry continued to support attractive returns, constructive commercial arrangements, and disciplined capital deployment. We exited the quarter at 94.4% utilization, reflecting continued high demand and the quality of our fleet. We are also seeing recent wins that are putting idle equipment back to work in the second half of the year.

Speaker 2

At quarter end, operating horsepower was 4.5 million, compared to 4.7 million at the end of the second quarter of 2025, with the largest driver of that change being the sale of approximately 165,000 non-strategic operating horsepower year-over-year. On a sequential basis, net operating horsepower was relatively flat, down approximately 7,500 horsepower, excluding active asset sales. Revenue per horsepower per month was higher sequentially and year-over-year, supported by solid utilization. Contract operations adjusted gross margin remained excellent at over 71%. As we look to the back half of the year, we expect to manage near-term cost pressures. First, we are seeing a higher make-ready cost as we put idle units back to work to meet customer demand. Second, we anticipate low oil cost pressure related to the Iran conflict that has driven oil prices higher.

Speaker 2

Even with these pressures, margins should remain around 70% in the second half of the year, reflecting the strong profitability of our business. Moving to our Aftermarket Services segment, activity has been softer than expected as some customers defer major maintenance to keep equipment operating in the current high crude price environment. While AMS can be lumpy and is a smaller part of our overall business, Adjusted gross margin percentage has significantly improved, reflecting disciplined execution and our focus on higher quality, higher margin work. AMS remains an attractive contributor to returns because it is less capital-intensive and it enhances the ROIC profile of the company. Turning to capital allocation, we remain disciplined and returns-focused with a framework designed to balance high-return growth investment, durable shareholder returns, and continued balance sheet strength.

Speaker 2

For 2026, we're reaffirming growth capital expenditures of $250 million-$275 million, reflecting continued investment in growth horsepower to meet customer demand and extend the growth of our profitable platform. Looking beyond 2026, we're introducing a long-term capital allocation framework supported by the strong market backdrop for natural gas and compression demand. This framework reflects an all-of-the-above approach to capital allocation with three components. First, we expect to prioritize high-return, organic growth investments that add the new-build horsepower needed to meet customer demand. Based on forecasted natural gas demand growth, we estimate that we will require new horsepower additions totaling approximately one million horsepower from 2027 through 2030. To meet that demand, we expect to invest $1.4 billion-$1.6 billion of growth capital cumulatively over that four-year timeframe in high-return organic growth opportunities, predominantly in large horsepower and electric motor drive new compression.

Speaker 2

Second, we expect substantial free cash flow to support increasing shareholder returns. We plan to return 25%-35% of operating cash flow to shareholders through continued dividend growth and opportunistic share repurchases. Our board recently increased our quarterly dividend to $0.23 per share, up from $0.22 per share and up approximately 10% year-over-year, marking our fifth dividend increase in two years, all while maintaining robust dividend coverage. We have flexibility for additional shareholder returns, including $113 million of remaining authorization under our share repurchase program as of quarter end, which we view as a tool within our returns-based framework and may opportunistically use more actively during periods of market dislocation. Third, even after these robust investment levels, and with meaningful capital returns to shareholders, we expect to continue generating significant free cash flow.

Speaker 2

We exited the quarter with a leverage ratio of 2.6 times, comfortably below our long-term leverage target range of 3-3.5 times. This financial position, free cash flow, and low leverage preserve flexibility to also pursue inorganic growth opportunities in the future. Simply put, our strong balance sheet and cash flow generation give us flexibility to fund robust organic growth, increase shareholder returns, and pursue additional strategic options. In summary, Archrock delivered strong second quarter results and remains well-positioned. The underlying demand fundamentals for long-term growth remain robust. We are confident in our ability to grow profitably, invest in attractive opportunities, and increase shareholder returns and create sustainable long-term value. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mohit to walk through our second quarter and 2026 outlook.

Speaker 3

Good morning, everyone. I would like to start by thanking Brad for the warm welcome. Archrock is exceptionally well-positioned with an industry-leading operating platform, a healthy order book, a highly motivated team, and a peer-leading balance sheet. I have really enjoyed meeting our impressive finance team as we continue to execute on our priorities. With that, let's review our second quarter results. Then cover our current financial outlook for 2026. Second quarter net income and Adjusted Net Income were both $67 million. Adjusted EPS was $0.38. We delivered strong Adjusted EBITDA of $213 million for the second quarter of 2026, essentially flat year-over-year. Higher Adjusted Gross Margin dollars in Contract Operations were offset by lower Aftermarket Services gross margin dollars and higher SG&A expense.

Speaker 3

In the second quarter, total CapEx was $98 million, including $51 million of Growth CapEx, $39 million of Maintenance CapEx, and $8 million of other CapEx. That performance translated into Adjusted Free Cash Flow of $67 million and Adjusted Free Cash Flow After Dividends of $28 million in the quarter, driven by durable operating cash flow and supporting our ongoing commitment to return capital to shareholders. Turning to our business segments, Contract Operations revenue came in at $329 million for the second quarter, up 3% compared to the second quarter of 2025. The year-over-year increase reflected higher rates, an additional month of contribution from the NGCS acquisition, and revenue from horsepower additions. Those benefits were partially offset by active horsepower sales to high-grade our fleet.

Speaker 3

Contract Operations Adjusted Gross Margin was 71% in the second quarter, up from 70% in the year ago quarter, reflecting continued pricing strength and disciplined cost management. In our Aftermarket Services segment, second quarter 2026 revenue was $42 million compared to $65 million in the year ago quarter. The decline was driven primarily by lower part sales and reduced customer demand for major maintenance activity as some customers deferred work to keep equipment operating in the current high crude oil price environment. The year-over-year comparison was also affected by an unusually strong second quarter of 2025, which included higher parts sales and non-recurring sales of overhauled engines. Adjusted Gross Margin was 24% in the quarter, up from 23% in the year ago period, reflecting disciplined execution and our continued focus on higher quality, higher margin work.

Speaker 3

Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter in a strong financial position with long-term debt of $2.3 billion at June 30th. Our leverage ratio was 2.6 times at quarter end, down meaningfully from 3.3 times a year ago. That improvement reflects the strength of our earnings growth and cash flow profile. It keeps us comfortably below our long-term target range. Consistent with that progress, both Moody's and S&P recently reaffirmed our credit ratings and revised their outlooks to positive. We now have positive outlooks from all three rating agencies, reflecting our consistent cash generation, financial strength, and strong business outlook. During the quarter, we also completed the repurchase of our $800 million six and a quarter senior notes due April 2028. We redeemed those notes at par plus accrued interest using borrowings under our revolving credit facility.

Speaker 3

The transaction was straightforward from a balance sheet perspective and resulted in a modest debt extinguishment gain in the quarter. This has cleared the runway for us with the first debt maturity out in 2032. After that activity, we ended June with $631 million of available liquidity, preserving flexibility to invest in the business, pursue high return growth opportunities, and return capital to shareholders. Turning to shareholder returns, our board recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, up from the prior quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share or $0.92 per share annualized. This is up approximately 10% from the second quarter of last year and represents our fifth dividend increase in two years, reflecting our continued confidence in the strength and durability of our cash flow.

Speaker 3

Dividend coverage remains strong at 3.1 times in the second quarter, underscoring the sustainability of our return of capital framework. The second quarter dividend is payable August 11th to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 4th. On repurchases, we ended June with $113.2 million of remaining capacity under our authorization. That gives us meaningful flexibility to be disciplined and opportunistic using buybacks alongside the dividend and growth investments to enhance long-term shareholder returns when market conditions are attractive. Since the inception of the share repurchase program in April 2023, we have repurchased approximately 4.6 million shares at an average price of $20.91 per share, for a total of $96.9 million. Turning to capital guidance. On a full year basis, our 2026 total CapEx remains unchanged at approximately $400 million-$445 million.

Speaker 3

Within that total, we continue to expect growth CapEx of $250 million-$275 million support investment in new build horsepower and repackage CapEx to meet continued customer demands. Growth is expected to be funded by operations with additional support from non-strategic asset sale proceeds as we continue to high-grade our fleet, including year-to-date proceeds totaling approximately $21 million. Maintenance CapEx is still expected to be approximately $125 million-$135 million, up versus 2025 due to increased planned overhaul activity. Other CapEx remains in the range of approximately $25 million-$35 million, primarily for new vehicles. In summary, our business remains well-positioned and we remain focused on disciplined execution, our capital plan, and long-term value creation. With that, Erica, we are ready to open the line for questions.

Operator

Thank you so much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Jim Rollyson with Raymond James. Your line is open.

Speaker 4

Hey, good morning.

Operator

Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Good morning, everyone, and welcome, Mohit.

Speaker 2

Morning, Jim.

Speaker 4

you are putting your money where your mouth is with regards to your long-term bullish gas view and the new multi-year CapEx plan. I guess my question is, I am not surprised, given the market outlook and our views and all that, which coincide, but I am a little surprised to see you actually announce that today. Would love to just hear the genesis of why you decided to announce that, and maybe a little color around what my math is. That kind of implies about a 40%-45% hike in average annual spend over what you are spending this year. Maybe a little color around the drivers behind the CapEx release.

Speaker 2

Sure. A couple of thoughts. Number one, you may remember, this quarter last year, we announced preliminary CapEx for 2026 also. This is the time when, as we see the CapEx demand for the prior year solidify, we shared that with our investors. This year, with the amazing lead times that we are seeing for compression equipment, for power equipment as well, it is the case that we are definitely booking ahead. Since we see that super tight market, long lead times, and our expectations for what is required going forward, that drove the timing, really, of sharing that information with our investors. Stepping back and thinking about the market overall, 2026, it has felt a bit like the calm before the storm. Even with tight industry conditions, the high utilization we are experiencing, strong revenue performance, power pricing, clearly long lead times and backlogs.

Speaker 2

The amount of demand for nat gas and for compression that we see for 2027 through 2030 and beyond is about to incline sharply higher. As we see a significant amount of LNG come online, as I shared in my prepared remarks, as well as expanded pipeline capacity out of the Permian, all of this being fueled by LNG and by data center power demand. We can see that the industry is really preparing for this onslaught of growth that we are going to experience. We see it pretty clearly. I think most forecasts are in alignment on what this is going to look like.

Speaker 2

What we are pointing out is just like the amount of pipeline capacity expansion that you are seeing, the amount of compression required by the market to meet this demand, it is going to be robust, and we expect to be there for our customers with the equipment to provide that growth. That was the market reason for sharing it.

Speaker 4

Appreciate that. It's certainly a pretty bullish outlook for sure. Maybe switching gears just to AMS. You mentioned the softer than expected ramp was deferral of major maintenance, given where oil prices are. I imagine that can only persist for so long. As you think about this over time going into next year and beyond, I presume this eventually comes back around and maybe sets up a better 2027 outlook as those guys actually have to hit the maintenance?

Speaker 2

Yeah. We've said this in the past. AMS is notoriously difficult to forecast. This unexpectedly high oil price in the current quarters, in 2026, primarily driven by the Iran conflict, we believe is driving significant deferrals by our customer base. We said in the past, too, that this is a business that's pay us now or pay us later. The equipment is going to require the maintenance. It's going to require the parts. The market is just not taking that right now. It's a not yet scenario. We believe we will see this work come back. We absolutely will see the work come back. I'll also point out that profitability remains solid in that segment. It's a signal that the high-quality work is there, just a bunch of it's being deferred.

Speaker 4

Absolutely. Appreciate the answers, Brad.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Jim.

Operator

The next question comes from the line of Nate Pendleton with Texas Capital. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Good morning. Perhaps.

Speaker 2

Good morning.

Speaker 5

Mohit. Now that you're getting settled in the CFO role, can you talk through your key strategic priorities and maybe if there are any areas that you're looking to address really in the near term?

Speaker 3

Yeah. Thanks, Nate. Thanks for the warm welcome. As Brad was alluding to, one of the big reasons why I joined the company is it's a very, very unique opportunity where when I look at the macro setup, there's a huge amount of demand pull that's coming from LNG and from the AI data center-driven power demand. Understanding the natural gas macro dynamics and trying to couple it with the fleet strategy, which Archrock has been very, very phenomenal historically in terms of high grading and standardizing the fleet itself. Translating that into great financial outcomes is at a very high level how I would describe what the priorities are. Stating that very, very simply, it's more about my focus has been coming in and trying to make the transition be as seamless as possible, because the team has done a phenomenal job.

Speaker 3

I alluded to earlier the finance leadership team and the overall finance team is very capable and performing at a very high level. My intention is to continue to deliver on the priorities that the board and Brad have set together for the company. It's essentially figuring out what role do we play within this setup as we look out into the end of the decade. The demand is coming. Natural gas is a must-run service. We need to be there to support our customers. We have very deep, long relationships with strategic customers, which again, as we announced that 665,000 horsepower contract, it's a testament to that deep relationships that we have. Then we have longstanding partnerships. It's more about execution, Nate, is what we are focused on. I'm very encouraged and excited about the overall setup over the next coming years.

Speaker 5

That's great. Really appreciate all that detail. I wanted to touch on the updated guidance for a moment. Looking at the updated guidance in the second half of 2026, it would imply an average quarterly EBITDA above what you just announced this past quarter, despite the lube oil and make-ready cost headwinds that you talked about. Maybe can you talk about some of the sequential improvements that you expect to see versus that 2Q run rate that more than offset those costs?

Speaker 3

Yes. We do see the opportunity for horsepower growth in the back half of the year because we're taking delivery of more horsepower in the second half of 2026 than we took in the first half. We also see some pricing opportunities that are going to come in later in the year that are going to impact overall gross margin dollars in contract operations. Then I'll point out that the amount of recovery in AMS, it remains an opportunity that we're working for. Finally, because we hit these headwinds with lube oil pricing and AMS, you can be assured that the team is working really hard to mitigate with other cost initiatives that will have impact in the back half of the year as well.

Speaker 3

When we hit this lube oil pricing and AMS headwind, it wasn't without a response internally, and that's going to impact our performance in the back half of the year as well.

Speaker 5

Got it. Thanks for taking my questions.

Speaker 3

Thank you.

Operator

Apologies. Your next question comes from the line of Elvira Scotto with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Hi. Great. Thanks, good morning, and welcome, Mohit. The new 665,000 horsepower eight-year contract with the existing strategic customer is significant. Can you provide any details around the genesis of that deal? Are you looking for other contracts of this tenor, or are customers asking to increase the tenor of their contracts?

Speaker 3

Thanks, Elvira. Well, look, we're not going to go into the details of the contract as you can imagine, just for commercial reasons. What this does signify is that with this customer, and we have other customers with longer-term contracts as well, it does signify a longstanding, highly valued partnership that we have with this customer. We really like the recognition that it provides of an integral and integrated operating partnership that we have with our customer base. I think these longer-term tenors may be more in the future, as we've expressed and shared, that our units are simply staying on location longer. Large horsepower stay on location an average of eight years, and all horsepower an average of six years. I think our customer base wants to ensure that they can both obtain and retain the horsepower that we bring to help grow with our operations.

Speaker 3

We really like the signal that this has and really very proud of the organization and of our team for the recognition this suggests as to the strength of our operations and our customers' willingness to partner with us so closely.

Speaker 6

Thank you for that. Then just my next question, are you seeing any demand shifts across basins? Especially as we start to see more LNG export capacity come online, there may be a greater call on Haynesville. Then also, have you seen an uptick in the Permian as the new gas takeaway capacity has come online?

Speaker 2

We're starting to see an uptick in activity in the Permian compared to the prior quarters. That's for sure. A lot of it does have to do with the fact that export capacity is starting to come online, and some of the negative economics that have been predominant in the Permian should be alleviated with this pipeline capacity expansion. We are seeing some nice growth opportunities in other basins right now as well. When we look at the diversified footprint that Archrock has, less than half of our recent bookings have come from the Permian and about half of our bookings are in other plays. We like that a lot because it's nice to see that diversified portfolio pay off in growth opportunities in other basins.

Speaker 6

Great. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

comes from the line of Doug Irwin with Citi. Doug, your line is open. Please go ahead. A reminder to mute yourself locally if you find your device is muted. Our next question comes from the line of Eli Jossen with JP Morgan. Eli, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Hey, good morning, everyone. If we think about the CapEx guidance through 2030, just wanted to understand the role of higher input costs versus more fleet additions than we would have previously anticipated. How much are higher overall costs factoring into that equation versus the historical precedent we've seen for horsepower?

Speaker 2

Thanks, Eli. We've included in our forecast the impact of inflation for new unit acquisition. We've included it at the rate that we've been experiencing, which is a very normalized level of inflation. We have not seen sharp price increases overall from the OEMs or from the packagers. It's included at a more normalized rate of inflationary increase.

Speaker 7

Got it. If we think about more broadly across the industry, we're seeing structurally longer contracts, what appears to be a really tight supply-demand backdrop. If the contemplated CapEx guide is just passing through historical inflation trends, how should we also think about the kind of pricing going forward? It would seem that this is a pretty favorable environment for pricing, but we also understand the kind of fairness with which you approach your customer contracts.

Speaker 2

It's a very supportive environment for pricing and profitability in contract operations in our business. You're seeing that come through with the 71% gross margin we delivered in the quarter and our forecast that even with the headwinds we articulated, we're going to be at 70% in this current environment. As we see this growth ramp, we expect to continue to generate great profitability on a margin basis and robust returns for investors. We think that this environment is going to be very constructive and very supportive for price increases in the future. I will point out, it's a competitive market, however, including with our customers. We do approach this incredible business to generate great returns for our investors, but we are responsible in how we have those negotiations with our, and drive that pricing with our customers.

Speaker 7

Great. Thanks.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Nicholas Amicucci with Evercore ISI. Nick, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Hey, good morning, Maheed and Brad. Just a quick one from me. Just as we kind of think about the bifurcation or I guess just the bookings in the current order book, just if we could kind of break out LNG exports kind of like the LNG feed gas versus gas on just the behind-the-meter side.

Speaker 2

Nick, thanks for the question. I really wish I had a great answer for you that could quantify the spread and the difference between what gas that we're compressing is going to which end market. That's really not data that's available to us. I would just pause and point out that regardless of where the gas is going to go, the robust demand that we expect ahead is going to be really solid for the industry, candidly, and for our business overall.

Speaker 8

Got it. That makes sense. Then, I'm sorry if I missed this in the prepared remarks, how should we think about just kind of the free cash flow with the growth CapEx kind of scaling up in 2027 through 2030? Just as we think about kind of the free cash flow, and obviously it seems like you're able to underwrite it with kind of these longer-term contracts or at least one longer-term contract, just if we could kind of level set on that.

Speaker 2

Even after our capital allocation framework, which is sharing and returning capital to shareholders at the level of 25%-35% of our operating cash flow After investing in the level of growth that we articulated, we still expect to have net free cash flow after that return of capital and those investments. We believe that, with our strong balance sheet, positions us exceptionally well to pursue other strategic and growth opportunities in the market.

Speaker 8

Perfect. Thanks, guys.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Gabe Moreen with Mizuho. Gabe, your line is open. Please go ahead. A reminder to unmute your device if you find your device is muted locally. Your next question comes from the line of Josh Jayne with Daniel Energy Partners. Josh, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 9

Thanks. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I just wanted to follow up on the lead time question for Caterpillar and where they stand. I believe you said less than 200 weeks. Actually sounds like some slight level of release. Maybe you could just offer your thoughts on if you think that they've peaked and just your discussions with them and into line of sight and how you see that going longer term, if we've seen sort of the peak of lead times.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Josh. We say often we don't speak for Caterpillar, and I still don't speak for Caterpillar, and I cannot predict what's going to happen with their lead times. For the equipment we require, their lead times are now out where we're ordering for 2029. It's right at 195 weeks, I think, is the most recent announcement or quotes that we're getting back for equipment. We do not see these long lead times abating or improving. We see no indication that there's a reason for them to improve. The market remains poised for growth. I think that Caterpillar being one of the key suppliers to the power market as well as to oil and gas and the compression market, as they had their call yesterday, they see a robust backlog going into the future. We expect the market to remain very tight.

Speaker 2

On the good news front, it portends that those of us that are in a position to deploy capital and have the equipment for our customers are going to be able to drive and participate in that growth that we see ahead. Our investments are intended for us to do exactly that to support the growth of our customer base.

Speaker 9

Thanks for that. As the follow-up, just another piece of the puzzle is just space and availability at equipment packagers. Could you just talk about that a bit today? Is there adequate space to piece all this together? Is that one of the reasons that you were also out in front of going ahead and ordering or committing to this level of CapEx? Maybe just some details around what you're seeing there would be helpful, and then I'll turn it back. Thanks.

Speaker 2

Floor space at the packagers definitely has tightened up over the last year and a half. We have not, however, had a challenge in getting the equipment that we require through the shops. We don't expect to have it, but it is absolutely, along with the Caterpillar lead times, one of the drivers for our overall CapEx approach and what we see in the market today and our willingness to share that outlook and forecast with the market. It's a robust, it's a tight time, and we expect we will have the equipment that we require to meet need. There is, however, incrementally some available space with the packagers, but it's definitely tight.

Speaker 9

Thanks. I'll turn it back.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Steve Ferazani with Sidoti. Steve, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 10

Morning, Brad, welcome, Mohit. Brad, you did raise the dividend again a couple of weeks ago, showing your confidence in market demand. It's been multiple raises over three years. Over this run-up, you've had fleet expansion, you've lowered leverage, and you've raised the dividend. You've sort of provided for everyone here. Given that massive growth CapEx you're outlying for the next four years, does that have to shift your capital allocation plans?

Speaker 2

Steve, thanks for the question. We don't believe so. As I put in my prepared remarks, we think that this is an all-of-the-above approach. We expect to continue returning capital to investors. We expect to make this investment through this cycle. We expect to grow the business, and we expect to be in a position to generate free cash flow after all of that as well. We think that the market is just positioned and poised. I shared a minute ago in one of my comments that 2026 has felt a little bit like a pause before the storm. What we've seen, especially in the Permian, is I think a lot of companies into the last year, into the beginning of this year, were ambivalent with a lower oil price environment.

Speaker 2

The war has changed that. The longer-term outlook for that oil price is something that keeps the market just a bit ambivalent. We're seeing a steady increase in activity, which we think is promising. We're seeing a nice increase in the gas-to-oil ratio, which we think is very promising. We expect that the market, the LNG demand, and the power demand is going to require all of this equipment to go to work very profitably for very attractive returns to support the growth that we see in the market going ahead. Overall, we're still going to be generating free cash flow, and it puts us in a great position to consider other strategic options.

Speaker 3

Steve, Brad covered well. One thing I would add, when we debated internally whether to go out with the long-term capital guide, we don't take a decision like that lightly. The fact that we are giving the long-term outlook should signal our confidence in the outlook. For all the reasons that Brad mentioned, we feel very good about the trajectory and the direction of travel here in terms of utilizations, in terms of profitability and margins, in terms of free cash flow generation. From our perspective, we are trying to balance shareholder returns, which is a core tenet, but at the same time, reinvesting it back into the business because those investments at these margins are most value accretive for the investors.

Speaker 10

Very helpful. If I follow up, just in terms of, I know the high grading of the fleet is an ongoing process. We can see you've gotten rid of a significant portion of the lower horsepower. We can see how it's contributing to margins, even beyond just the market demand. How are you approaching high grading as we enter an even faster growth period? Is it less important given that demand is so overwhelming?

Speaker 2

Interesting question. The truth is, it's both less important, but more importantly, maybe it's less available. We've made such strides in high grading the fleets that we have a fleet that is very competitive, meeting our customers' needs, and the amount of available non-strategic horsepower that could be a part of that has reduced over time. While we'll always have disciplined asset management practices that will take into account the standardization of the fleet, continuing to improve the standardization of the fleet, it's less available to us in the future than it was in the past.

Speaker 10

Got it. Thanks, Brad. Thanks, Mohit.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Speaker 3

Thank you.

Operator

We have reached the end of the Q&A session. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Childers for final remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Erica. Thank you everyone for joining us today. We're pleased with our second quarter performance and remain confident in the strength of our business, healthy customer demand, and the long-term opportunity ahead. We appreciate your continued interest in Archrock and look forward to updating you next quarter. Thank you, everyone.

Operator

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

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