U.S. oil and gas stocks present different investment cases across producers and service providers. Valuations and the timing of future growth are central to assessing those opportunities.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Josh Silverstein, oil and gas analyst at UBS, about his investment case for Devon Energy, EQT and Liberty Energy.
Key Takeaways
- Devon Energy’s Eagle Ford sale could improve capital allocation and shareholder returns, with another potential divestiture in the Anadarko Basin.
- EQT’s announced acquisition of Range Resources would combine extensive drilling inventory with an integrated asset base to serve future natural gas demand.
- Natural gas demand from power generation and liquefied natural gas exports could strengthen from late 2028 into 2029, supporting production growth and better selling prices.
- Silverstein values Liberty Energy’s core fracturing business at about $16 to $17 a share, roughly where he says the stock is trading.
- Liberty is targeting three gigawatts of power deployment by the end of 2029, with Silverstein seeing potential for a $900-million annual EBITDA run rate from that business heading into 2030.
Read the full transcript below:
MATT: It’s time now for Hot Picks, and our next guest covers the oil and gas sector. Want to welcome in Josh Silverstein, oil and gas analyst at UBS. Josh, good to see you.
JOSH: Yeah, thanks. Good morning.
MATT: Let’s get into it, shall we? So, take us through the first one on the board, too, for Devon Energy. You know, take us through why Eagle Ford was such an impactful acquisition for them.
JOSH: Yeah, so this was on Devon Energy, ticker DVN. This was actually an Eagle Ford divestiture for them. This is one of the large-cap oil and gas E&P companies that, that we cover, and we really saw this sale as positive for them as it starts their portfolio transformation post the acquisition of Coterra earlier this year. The company broadened out their portfolio of assets through that earlier transaction, and now we see them streamlining that to improve their capital efficiency and capital allocation, along with improving their opportunity for shareholder returns. And especially in this higher oil and gas price environment, this is a really robust opportunity for these guys to go and divest some assets at better pricing relative to last year. So this was the first transaction for that, and we see them doing a bit more to go and further improve their forward outlook.
MATT: Yeah, and I’m curious, too. You know, how much more — is there an indication yet, too, about what they might be up to here in the next little bit?
JOSH: Yeah, so we do see them still continuing this portfolio review process. There’s another asset in the Anadarko Basin that we think is another asset they could divest as well. This is one of the assets where there was some overlap with the Coterra position that they acquired. Our view is that they are looking to get some of the synergies from the transaction out of that first, improve the underlying cash flow and the productivity from this asset to then potentially go and divest it at some point, either later on this year or in the first half of next year. That’s kind of the path that we see for them to improve their forward outlook.
MATT: OK, interesting. OK, next up is EQT Corporation. Tell us why it’s on the list today.
JOSH: Yeah, for us, this company had a very big transaction this week, but we liked it beforehand as well. So EQT announced the acquisition of Range Resources earlier this week, combining two of the biggest Marcellus producers, focused on the southwest part of the play in West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania. This has now brought together one of the companies, in Range, with the deepest inventory bases and highest-quality inventory bases in the part of, of southwestern Pennsylvania that we really like, with EQT’s integrated asset base. This now sets up EQT to better leverage all the demand wave that’s coming to Appalachia and the Lower 48, broadly from power generation, LNG exports, along with, you know, enhancing the downside protection in periods of natural gas weakness. This is really a play for, you know, the end of 2028 and into 2029 and beyond, when that demand wave starts to come up.
MATT: And it’s going to take that long for that demand wave to get there, too. So a bit of a longer hold here?
JOSH: It is definitely a bit of a longer hold, but there’s a couple of reasons why we see the opportunity right now. The first is it’s rare within the energy sector to find stocks that are trading closer to 52-week lows than 52-week highs. Natural gas in North America has been more challenged this year, and so EQT is towards the bottom end of that range, so that’s one of the reasons. The other reason here that we like this is that even if, you know, at our flat price stack, you know, going forward, that’s around $3.50 to $3.75 Henry Hub, there’s multiple value creation opportunities here for this company. The first is going to be they’re going to need to grow their volumes into this demand wave that’s coming, so that’s going to grow their volumes and supply going forward. We also see better realizations coming over time because, for the first time in a long time, you’re having gas-on-gas competition, and so that’s going to naturally kind of improve their realizations. And then, lastly, there are different things that they’re going to be able to do through this transaction and their integrated asset base. That’s going to be midstream investments. Obviously, there’s going to be some cost synergies here as well. And then, on top of that, there will be some opportunities to further improve their commercial and marketing optimization here that will allow them to again improve their realizations.
MATT: OK, last up, too, is Liberty Energy. It’s an oilfield services company, but you note that it’s making a big play into the AI infrastructure buildout. Tell us how.
JOSH: Yeah, exactly. So we look at this company as basically two different parts. For us, Liberty is a historical frac company here in, in the U.S. They do have some assets abroad as well, but we look at them as one of the biggest frac providers here in the U.S., and that’s the core business to them. We value that around $16 to $17 per share, which is basically where the stock is trading at right now. What we really like is the forward growth opportunity that’s coming from their power business. They and a few of their peers have started to go down this path of being behind-the-meter power plays, and that’s the real exciting opportunity for us with the stock trading where it currently is. This company is on a path towards a three-gigawatt deployment of power by the end of 2029 and currently has secured about 1.6 gigawatts of that. And so, as we look out over the course of the next few years, there’s a real opportunity for this company to start generating $900 million of EBITDA by the end of 2029 — the run rate of that into 2030 — versus what their frac business is forecasting to do, which is growing towards about $650 million to $700 million in 2028. So that’s the real growth opportunity for them as they go and contract this power.
MATT: OK, certainly going to be interesting, too, to note that. Josh Silverstein, oil and gas analyst at UBS. Josh, appreciate this. Thanks so much.
| DISCLOSURE | PERSONAL | FAMILY | PORTFOLIO/FUND |
|---|---|---|---|
| DVN NYSE | N | N | N |
| EQT NYSE | N | N | N |
| LBRT NYSE | N | N | N |
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the Oct. 30, 2026 interview with Josh Silverstein are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
