Can DVN's Expanding Reserves Secure Long-Term Growth for the Stock?

Devon Energy Corporation DVN has emerged as one of the premier independent oil and gas producers in the United States, supported by its high-quality acreage across multiple prolific basins. The company’s diversified portfolio, operational efficiency and disciplined capital strategy have enabled it to consistently deliver robust free cash flow, even in periods of commodity price volatility. Moreover, Devon continues to reinforce its long-term position through successful exploration efforts, which have led to the discovery and addition of new reserves.

Devon’s combined proved reserves stood at 1,815 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) at the end of 2022, edged slightly higher to 1,817 MMboe by the close of 2023, and further expanded to 2,155 MMboe at the end of 2024. The company’s continued exploration efforts are expected to support additional reserve growth in the years ahead.

Devon’s ability to consistently increase its proved reserves is crucial to sustaining production and ensuring earnings visibility. The company’s ability to expand the reserve base highlights both the quality of the acreage and strong operational execution, signaling its capacity to maintain production levels well into the future, which is a critical advantage in a highly competitive sector.

The growth of proved reserves serves as a strong valuation tailwind for Devon. Investors view reserve expansion as a key indicator of long-term cash flow potential, reinforcing confidence in the company’s production outlook and shareholder return framework. Supported by rising reserves, disciplined cost control and a shareholder-focused capital return strategy, Devon is well-positioned to achieve sustainable growth.

Proved Reserves: Fueling Future Value in Oil & Gas

Oil and gas companies benefit from growing proved reserves by ensuring future production visibility, increasing cash flow potential, improving financing flexibility and enhancing investor confidence. Rising reserves ensure sustainable growth and long-term value creation.

Two major oil and gas players are ExxonMobil XOM and Chevron CVX, which benefit significantly from rising proved reserves. Expanding reserves secure future production, ensuring stable cash flows and long-term earnings visibility. The companies also enhance financing flexibility while boosting investor confidence. This reserve growth strengthens their competitive position and supports sustained shareholder returns in a capital-intensive industry.

DVN’s Price Performance

Devon’s shares have gained 8.4% in the past three months against the Zacks Oil & Gas- Exploration and Production- United States industry’s decline of 3.5%.

Price performance (Three Months)

DVN’s Earnings Estimates

The Zacks Consensus Estimate of DVN’s 2025 earnings per share reflects a year-over-year decline of 15.98% and the same for 2026 shows year-over-year growth of 4.12%.

DVN’s Shares Trading at a Discount

Devon’s shares are inexpensive on a relative basis, with its current trailing 12-month Enterprise Value/Earnings before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortization (EV/EBITDA TTM) being 3.84X compared with the industry average of 11.16X.

DVN’s Zacks Rank

DVN currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

 

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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