The Cheapest US Oil & Gas Stocks (2026): Shale E&P by Valuation
Few corners of the US market are as cheap, or as unloved, as oil and gas exploration and production. After the 2020 crash the shale industry changed its religion: instead of drilling for growth at any cost, the survivors now run for free cash flow and hand most of it back through dividends and buybacks. The result is an industry throwing off enormous cash at some of the lowest valuation multiples anywhere, and still ignored by most generalist investors. The table below ranks the US E&P names we cover by EV/EBITDA, updated daily from filings.
The capital-return revolution
The old shale model destroyed capital: producers outspent cash flow, chased production growth, and rewarded volume over returns. The 2020 collapse ended it. The survivors adopted discipline, capping reinvestment, repairing balance sheets, and returning the free cash flow to shareholders through base-plus-variable dividends and heavy buybacks. For an investor the question shifted from "how fast can it grow" to "how much cash does it return, and at what oil price." That is a value investor's question.
How to value a driller
An E&P is a wasting asset: every barrel produced must be replaced, and the reserves deplete. So the multiple alone is not enough.
- EV/EBITDA over P/E. Producers carry debt and heavy depreciation; EV/EBITDA is neutral to both and is our default screen. But it moves with the commodity: the same company looks cheap at $85 oil and dear at $60.
- Free cash flow and breakeven. What matters is the cash left after the drilling needed just to hold production flat, and the price at which that cash goes to zero. A low breakeven is the real margin of safety.
- Reserves and decline. Check reserve life and how fast the base declines; a high decline rate is a treadmill that eats cash.
We compute EV/EBITDA, P/E, dividend yield and ROE for every issuer daily, from filings.
The cheapest US oil & gas stocks right now
The lowest-EV/EBITDA US exploration and production names we cover, from Permian and Bakken oil to Appalachian and Haynesville gas. A starting list for research, not a buy list; click any name for full financials, reserves and cash-flow history.
| # | Company | Market | EV/EBITDA | P/E | Div yield | Mcap, $bn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | APA Corporation APA | US | 3.0x | 8.0x | 2.9% | 12.2 |
| 2 | Ovintiv Inc. OVV | US | 4.3x | 17.4x | 2.1% | 16.0 |
| 3 | Matador Resources Company MTDR | US | 4.4x | 12.1x | 3.1% | 5.8 |
| 4 | Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. NOG | US | 4.7x | 54.0x | 9.1% | 2.1 |
| 5 | Chord Energy Corporation CHRD | US | 5.1x | 164.5x | 4.0% | 7.3 |
| 6 | Permian Resources Corporation PR | US | 5.3x | 22.9x | 3.1% | 14.9 |
| 7 | Magnolia Oil & Gas Corporation MGY | US | 5.3x | 13.5x | 2.7% | 4.3 |
| 8 | Murphy Oil Corporation MUR | US | 5.3x | 61.4x | 3.7% | 5.2 |
| 9 | EOG Resources, Inc. EOG | US | 5.4x | 10.3x | 3.0% | 71.0 |
| 10 | Comstock Resources, Inc. CRK | US | 5.5x | 7.5x | — | 3.8 |
| 11 | EQT Corporation EQT | US | 5.6x | 11.8x | 1.3% | 32.0 |
| 12 | Antero Resources Corporation AR | US | 5.6x | 9.4x | — | 10.6 |
| 13 | CNX Resources Corporation CNX | US | 6.1x | 5.4x | — | 5.1 |
| 14 | Devon Energy Corporation DVN | US | 6.6x | 10.0x | 2.5% | 32.7 |
| 15 | Range Resources Corporation RRC | US | 6.7x | 10.4x | 1.0% | 9.0 |
| 16 | Canadian Natural Resources Limited CNQ | US | 7.8x | 13.6x | 2.0% | 93.9 |
| 17 | SM Energy Company SM | US | 8.1x | 53.1x | 2.9% | 7.0 |
| 18 | W&T Offshore, Inc. WTI | US | 8.7x | — | 1.2% | 0.5 |
| 19 | Diamondback Energy, Inc. FANG | US | 9.9x | 35.6x | 2.2% | 52.2 |
| 20 | California Resources Corporation CRC | US | 27.6x | 12.6x | 3.1% | 4.6 |
Oil versus gas
The list splits in two. The oil-weighted names (Permian, Bakken) live on the crude price and tend to pay the fatter dividends. The gas-weighted names (Appalachia, Haynesville) are a different bet, leveraged to US natural gas and, increasingly, to LNG export demand as new terminals come online. They can be cheaper still, but gas is more volatile than oil. Know which one a ticker is before you buy the multiple.
The risks
The commodity. Cash flow, and the multiple, rise and fall with oil and gas prices you do not control. The treadmill. Production declines without constant drilling, so capital discipline can slip when prices are high. Reserve replacement. A cheap multiple on a shrinking, short-life reserve base is not a bargain. The prize is a low-breakeven producer, returning cash, bought when the commodity, not the company, is out of favour.
Screen the whole market
Build your own shortlist on our screeners and compare valuations across markets on the global valuation map. For the broader commodity case see the gold miners guide and the cheapest stocks in the world. This guide is analysis, not investment advice.
See also: valuation map · stock screeners · market research