Bear of the Day: Civitas Resources (CIVI)

Civitas Resources, Inc. CIVI is facing a bear market in oil in 2025. This Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) has seen falling earnings for the last 2 years.Civitas Resources is an independent oil and natural gas producer with assets in the Denver-Julesburg (DJ) and Permian basins in Texas and New Mexico. It has a market cap of $3 billion.Civitas Reinstates Its Capital Return ProgramOn Aug 6, 2025, Civitas announced that its Board of Directors authorized reinstating a capital allocation strategy of both returning capital to shareholders and ongoing debt reduction.The company already pays a $2.00 per share annual base dividend. Future free cash flow after paying the base dividend is expected to be allocated equally to share repurchases and debt reduction each year.The Board increased the company’s share repurchase authorization to $750 million, which represented about 28% of Civitas’ current market cap.It will start an accelerated share repurchase agreement (ASR) to repurchase $250 million of Civitas’ equity.Under the ASR it intends to have those purchases completed by the end of the third quarter of 2025. It will then have $500 million remaining in the share repurchase.Civitas Lists Strategic Steps for Enhanced Return of Capital to ShareholdersWith crude prices continuing to fall in 2025, Civitas has been hedging. Hedging is common in bear oil markets. It added 17 million barrels of oil hedges through the third quarter of 2026.Civitas is now about 60% hedged on oil through the end of 2025 with a weighted average floor of $67 per barrel WTI.It also reduced the original capital expenditure plan by $150 million to optimize 2025 free cash flow.Cost cutting is also the name of the game. Civitas has implemented a $100 million cost optimization and efficiency project to improve margins.It also accelerated deleveraging with non-core DJ Basin asset divestments totaling $435 million, well above the company’s full-year target of $300 million.These transactions are expected to close around the end of the third quarter of 2025 and will be allocated to debt reduction.Analysts Cut Civitas Earnings Estimates for 2025 and 2026After falling earnings in 2023 and 2024, the analysts are still bearish on Civitas in 2025 and 2026.5 earnings estimates were cut in the last 60 days for 2025. This has pushed the Zacks Consensus down to $5.35 from $6.11. This is an earnings decline of 37% as Civitas made $8.49 last year.2026 is expected to see further declines. 5 estimates have been cut in the last 2 months, which has pushed the Zacks Consensus down to $4.82 from $5.33. That is another 9.9% decline.This is what it looks like on the 5-year price and consensus chart.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchShares of Civitas Give Up the Ukraine War GainsOil prices surged in 2022 during the start of the Ukraine War and so did shares of Civitas. But as oil prices have fallen the last few years, and earnings along with it, the shares have fallen as well.It’s now underperforming the S&P 500 over the last 5 years.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchBut Civitas is cheap. It now trades with a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just 6.2. A P/E ratio under 10 is considered to be dirt cheap.It’s $2.00 base dividend is also yielding 6%.However, given the bear market in oil, investors might want to wait for earnings to stabilize before buying an oil and natural gas producer like Civitas.Free Report: Profiting from the 2nd Wave of AI ExplosionThe next phase of the AI explosion is poised to create significant wealth for investors, especially those who get in early. It will add literally trillion of dollars to the economy and revolutionize nearly every part of our lives.Investors who bought shares like Nvidia at the right time have had a shot at huge gains.But the rocket ride in the "first wave" of AI stocks may soon come to an end. The sharp upward trajectory of these stocks will begin to level off, leaving exponential growth to a new wave of cutting-edge companies.Zacks' AI Boom 2.0: The Second Wave report reveals 4 under-the-radar companies that may soon be shining stars of AI’s next leap forward.Access AI Boom 2.0 now, absolutely free >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Civitas Resources, Inc. (CIVI): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks