Longer Lateral Drilling And AI Will Lower Breakeven Costs

Key Takeaways

• Operational innovation and advanced analytics are driving efficiency, lowering costs, and supporting sustained growth in profitability and margins.
  
• Strong asset quality, disciplined capital allocation, and favorable market dynamics are expected to bolster long-term cash flow and shareholder returns.
  
• Heavy reliance on a concentrated shale portfolio, regulatory risks, and the global energy transition pose challenges to Chord Energy's future growth, margins, and capital access.

Catalysts

Operates as an independent exploration and production company in the United States.

• Strong execution of longer-lateral (4-mile) drilling-with early results significantly outperforming expectations-positions Chord to lower breakeven costs and increase access to previously marginal acreage, enabling volume growth with reduced capital intensity and driving higher net margins and free cash flow in the coming years.
  
• Rapid adoption of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced analytics across operational workflows is already yielding notable gains in capital and operating efficiency, and is expected to further reduce per-barrel production costs, directly supporting improved net margins and long-term profitability.
  
• Robust and consistent free cash flow generation-outperforming guidance and enabling 90%+ payout ratios via buybacks and dividends-indicates the potential for continued accelerated earnings per share growth as capital allocation discipline remains a management priority.
  
• Chord's high-quality, low-breakeven asset base in the Williston Basin, coupled with underinvestment in new global oil supply and the slow pace of the energy transition, supports sustained strong demand for U.S. shale oil, bolstering long-term revenue and price realizations.
  
• Energy security concerns and ongoing geopolitical tensions are enhancing the strategic value of U.S. domestic production, likely leading to tighter regional oil differentials and premium market access for efficient operators like Chord, positively impacting realized revenue and cash flow over the long term.

Chord Energy Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

• Analysts are assuming Chord Energy's revenue will decrease by 4.3% annually over the next 3 years.
• Analysts assume that profit margins will increase from 5.3% today to 23.2% in 3 years time.
• Analysts expect earnings to reach $1.0 billion (and earnings per share of $14.75) by about September 2028, up from $265.7 million today.
• In order for the above numbers to justify the analysts price target, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 7.6x on those 2028 earnings, down from 22.1x today. This future PE is lower than the current PE for the US Oil and Gas industry at 12.6x.
• Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to decline by 6.33% per year for the next 3 years.
• To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 7.06%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

Chord Energy Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

• Chord Energy's highly concentrated asset base in the Williston Basin exposes it to regional operational disruptions (such as weather or infrastructure bottlenecks) and fast-changing North Dakota/Montana regulatory environments, which could negatively impact long-term revenue stability and increase compliance costs.
  
• The company's core assets are unconventional shale wells, which typically exhibit high initial production decline rates; this persistent need for aggressive drilling and capital deployment to maintain or grow output could pressure net margins and increase capital expenditures over time, especially if efficiency improvements slow or commodity prices decline.
  
• Chord's operations remain fundamentally tied to the long-term demand outlook for oil and natural gas; acceleration of the global energy transition, increased adoption of renewables, electrification of transport, and net-zero policies could structurally reduce oil demand, thereby depressing both price realizations and future revenue growth.
  
• Increasing environmental scrutiny and the likelihood of stricter U.S. and state-level emissions, water management, or drilling regulations could materially raise operating costs and limit drilling activity, which would risk future production volumes and compress net earnings.
  
• The rise in ESG investing and growing institutional divestment from fossil fuels may restrict access to capital markets and decrease the investor pool, potentially elevating Chord Energy's cost of capital and limiting the long-term appreciation potential of its share price.

Valuation

• The analysts have a consensus price target of $133.867 for Chord Energy based on their expectations of its future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors. However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of $166.0, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just $105.0.
• In order for you to agree with the analyst's consensus, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be $4.4 billion, earnings will come to $1.0 billion, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 7.6x, assuming you use a discount rate of 7.1%.
• Given the current share price of $102.72, the analyst price target of $133.87 is 23.3% higher.
• We always encourage you to reach your own conclusions though. So sense check these analyst numbers against your own assumptions and expectations based on your understanding of the business and what you believe is probable.