If Liberty Oilfield Services Inc.’s (NYSE: LBRT) upsized IPO is any indication, predictions of 2018 being the “year of the service sector” just might have some legs. The industry’s first IPO of the year soared nearly 28% from its $17 opening on the New York Stock Exchange Jan.12, hovering around $21.80 in mid-afternoon trading.

All told, the Denver-based company raked in roughly $216 million. It was a good showing for an IPO that almost made its debut last spring. Liberty was one of five oilfield services providers that filed IPOs in the first five months of 2017 but pulled back because of low oil prices at the time.

“The market wasn’t good and we didn’t need to do it,” Chris Wright, Liberty Oilfield’s chairman and CEO, told Hart Energy. “We just figured we’d wait until the market was more reasonable, and the market is.”

Now with oil prices higher, investors are beginning to show more interest in service sector stocks. As the first out of the gate in 2018, Liberty’s performance was closely watched for signs of investor interest in the sector. “Clearly, investors are interested in quality oilfield service companies and I suspect we’ll see more offering from other companies,” Wright said.

Wright said 2018 looks a lot different for investors than last year did. “Last year was a good year for Liberty and strong oilfield service companies, but it wasn’t a good year for investors in oilfield services,” he said. “This year, I think the business will continue to be good, but probably the investor returns will be another quarter or two just because valuations dropped pretty low today. They are more likely to go up and down from here.”

But today was a day for victory laps for Wright who made the rounds on cable news programs and telephone interviews.

“We had tremendous interest in the offering so it allowed us to allocate shares to what we thought would be the best long-term owners and partners in Liberty,” he said. “I think the market got our story and we’re thrilled to be part of the institution that is the New York Stock Exchange.”

Throughout the day he faced several questions about the cyclical nature of the hydraulic fracturing business.

“The business is cyclical. It always has been and always will be,” Wright said. “We design and run our business for that cyclicality.”

He also said that despite pressure on oil and gas producers to shift capital to share buyback programs or dividend increases instead of more drilling, U.S. shale production is poised for continued growth because of lower costs and improved technology.

Now armed with more than $200 million in proceeds, Wright said the company is looking to strengthen its balance sheet. “We’ll take our net debt down to zero,” he said. “We are a return-on-capital and a return-of-capital company. It will give us tremendous flexibility in how we manage the business.”

He doesn’t plan to change the formula that’s been working for Liberty. “We’ll run the business no different as a public company than we did as a private company,” he said. “We will continue our strategy of organic growth, growing with our customers.”

Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo Securities, Citi, J.P. Morgan and Evercore ISI acted as lead managers on the deal.

Len Vermillion can be reached at lvermillion@hartenergy.com or @LenVermillion.