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SM Energy Company (SM · NYSE)

Large independent — HQ United States. Oil & gas valuation, proved reserves, production, break-even, net-asset-value and jurisdiction-risk screen.
Category Large independentRegion N. AmericaCEO Beth McDonald (2026)Jurisdiction risk Low (23)

Overview

Following the ~$12.8bn all-stock merger with Civitas Resources (closed 30 Jan 2026), SM is a top-10 US oil-weighted independent producing ~500 MBoe/d across ~823k net acres, with the Permian/Midland Basin as the cornerstone plus the DJ Basin (Colorado), Delaware (New Mexico), Uinta (Utah, waxy crude) and Eagle Ford (Texas); strategy centers on $200-300M annual synergies and $1bn+ of non-core divestitures.

Combined net debt ~$5bn (~1.2-1.4x EBITDAX) with free cash flow prioritized to deleveraging toward 1.0x by YE2027; capital returns via a maintained $0.80/yr fixed dividend and buybacks. Key flags: merger integration execution, Colorado DJ Basin regulatory/permitting risk, oil-price sensitivity, and a leadership transition to CEO Beth McDonald.

Valuation snapshot (FY2025)

Market cap
$8.0bn
Enterprise value
$14.8bn
EV / EBITDA
6.5x
P / E
12.2x
FCF yield
7.8%
Dividend yield
2.6%
ROACE
7%
Debt / equity
150%
Net debt / EBITDA
3.0x
EV / reserves
$10.07/boe
EV / flowing
$28k/boe/d
Free cash flow
$0.6bn

Its EV/EBITDA of 6.5x is above the 5.9x median across the 142-company universe, the free-cash-flow yield of 7.8% is higher than the 6.5% median, and at $10.07/boe of proved reserves it is cheaper than the $13.51/boe median.

On a balanced screen across the universe, SM Energy Company scores 50/100, strongest on growth (81/100). Sub-scores: value 52, quality 47, growth 81, risk 64 (higher = riskier).

Reserves & production

SM Energy Company holds approximately 1.47 billion boe of proved (1P) reserves with FY2025 production of about 526 thousand boe/d (64% liquids), a reserve life of roughly 7.7 years. Break-even: ~$45 (WTI corporate FCF breakeven (incl. fixed dividend)) — Combined portfolio generates free cash flow above roughly $45 WTI; management targets 1.0x net leverage by year-end 2027 at $65 WTI / $3.50 Henry Hub.

Net asset value (public-source floor)

Using SM Energy Company's SEC-disclosed after-tax standardized measure of proved reserves ($6.0bn) less net debt ($6.8bn) gives an equity-NAV floor of about $-0.9bn — the current market capitalisation sits -1009% versus that floor. Disclosed pre-tax PV-10: —. This is a floor: proved reserves only, excluding undeveloped inventory, downstream and other business lines. undeveloped inventory beyond the SEC 5-year booking window, midstream/infrastructure value, and unrealized merger synergies

Jurisdiction risk · production-weighted country risk

23 /100
Low jurisdiction risk
Production-weighted average of the country scores below (0 = safest, 100 = riskiest).
Country / regionProd. shareCountry riskKey jurisdiction risk
United States100%23Stable, deep; federal-lands leasing and permitting policy swings.
How this is scored. Each country's risk (0–100) is anchored to two named public indices — the OECD Country Risk Classification (0–7 official export-credit country risk) and the World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (Political Stability & Absence of Violence percentile) — blended 55/45 and rescaled to 0–100. A company's jurisdiction risk is the production-weighted average across the countries where it operates. This is a pure country measure, kept separate from company & financial risk (leverage, governance). Source: OECD Country Risk Classification (CRC) as of 24 July 2025, sourced via the German Federal Export Credit Guarantees (exportkreditgarantien.de) which applies the OECD consensus country risk category directly (values 0-7; 0 = lowest risk). High-income OECD members are not individually rated by the OECD and are set to crc=0 per the model spec (US, UK, Norway, Canada, Australia, Japan, NZ, and most of Europe incl. OECD members Israel, Poland, Hungary, Czechia, Lithuania, Ireland). 'ps' = World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) 'Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism' percentile rank, latest available (2023 vintage), 0-100 with higher = more stable; ps values are best sourced estimates rounded to the WGI percentile scale. Yemen not on OECD list ('./.') so crc estimated at 7. Iraq-Kurdistan and Falklands are non-standard model rows using judgment, not official OECD entries..

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Key assets & projects

AssetLocationTypeNotes
Midland BasinUnited StatesOil (unconventional)Legacy SM high-return Permian core
DJ BasinUnited StatesOil/gas (unconventional)Ex-Civitas Colorado cornerstone; scale volumes, regulatory-sensitive
Delaware BasinUnited StatesOil (unconventional)Ex-Civitas New Mexico Permian position
Uinta BasinUnited StatesOil (waxy crude)2024 acquisition; oily growth, crude-logistics constrained
Eagle FordUnited StatesOil/gas/condensateLegacy SM South Texas free-cash generator
Divestiture packageUnited StatesNon-core$1bn+ planned asset sales to reduce leverage
Synergy captureUnited StatesCorporate$200-300M annual cost/operational synergies targeted

Five-year trend (FY2021–FY2025)

Metric20212022202320242025
Production (mboe/d)146152152171526
Proved reserves (bnboe)0.490.550.600.681.47
Revenue ($bn)2.13.52.42.73.1
EBITDA ($bn)1.11.91.72.02.3
Net income ($bn)0.41.10.80.80.7
Free cash flow ($bn)0.20.60.60.50.6

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Peer companies — Large independent

COP · ConocoPhillipsEOG · EOG ResourcesOXY · Occidental PetroleumDVN · Devon EnergyWDS · Woodside Energy1605.T · InpexAKRBP · Aker BPPTTEP · PTT E&POVV · OvintivSTO · SantosWCP · Whitecap ResourcesAPA · APA CorporationVAR · Var EnergiPRIO3 · PRIO S.A.

Sources

✓ FY2025 figures verified against primary sources:

↗ Compare SM against 141 peers in the interactive screener

Disclaimer. Screening research only — a starting point, not investment or transactional advice. Figures are drawn from public sources (~mid-2026), may contain errors, and require independent due diligence before any decision.
Enerquill Advisory. Data compiled from company FY2025 filings and results releases; market data ~mid-2026. Larger names are verified against primary sources (shown on each page); smaller names are best-estimates pending verification. © Enerquill Advisory. enerquilladvisory.com