Investment Advice: Consider Following in Michael Burry's Footsteps and Purchase Shares in This Fresh IPO Stock?
WaterBridge Infrastructure, a Houston-based company specialising in produced water infrastructure, has launched its initial public offering (IPO) and is now trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker WBI. The company, which operates in the highly profitable Delaware Basin – the most profitable oil and natural gas basin in North America – boasts a vast network of assets spanning south Texas and Oklahoma.
With a total footprint of 2,500 miles of pipeline, nearly 200 facilities, and the capacity to handle 4.5 million barrels of water per day, WaterBridge Infrastructure is the nation's largest produced water infrastructure network. This extensive network provides water management solutions to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies.
The company's growth potential is linked to the increasing production activity in the oil and gas sector, which WaterBridge believes will necessitate increased produced water handling capacity. This belief is supported by the compound annual growth rate of oil producers in the Delaware Basin, which was 21% from 2014 to 2024, and water production increased with a CAGR of 19% in the same period.
WaterBridge Infrastructure's IPO saw the company's stock debut with a 25% increase, giving the company a market valuation of nearly $3 billion as of September 17, 2025. However, the company's initial operational losses are evident, with an EPS of -1.91 and a net profit margin of -11.4%. Despite these losses, the stock price was around $23 in mid-September 2025, with positive trading momentum.
One of WaterBridge's key strengths is its long-term contracts with major energy companies such as Chevron (CVX), Devon (DVN), EOG Resources (EOG), and Permian Resources (PR). These contracts provide a consistent revenue stream for the company. Furthermore, WaterBridge has recently signed a long-term deal with BPX Production to support their water needs, with the agreement calling for WaterBridge to build and operate 400 million barrels per day of new water-handling capacity over the next three years.
The global water supply is under pressure, with less than 1% of it being fresh and accessible. This scarcity has led to increased interest in the commodity water, with notable figures like Michael Burry, known for his successful bet on shorting subprime mortgage bonds before the 2008 housing crisis, focusing his trading on the commodity water.
In terms of stock performance, WaterBridge looks to be a more defensive play than a growth stock. While H2O America, a water and wastewater utility based in California, is down 2.5% in the last 12 months, the best water stock over the last year is Xylem (XYL), which is up 21% over the last year. As for WaterBridge, the company has not yet decided if it will offer a dividend.
WaterBridge's business model is unique, as it charges fees for transporting water for disposal into its produced water handling facilities and also provides raw or recycled produced water to customers for reuse in drilling and completion operations. In the Delaware Basin, WaterBridge maintains 167 water facilities and nearly 1,800 miles of pipeline, handling 2.2 million barrels of water per day.
As WaterBridge Infrastructure continues to grow and navigate the complex waters of the oil and gas industry, it will be interesting to see how the company performs in the coming years.
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