Equinor ASA EQNR is a Norway-based integrated energy giant boasting a resilient business, spanning oil and gas exploration and production, midstream marketing and processing for crude oil, gas and refined products. With operations spread across Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific, the company has built a strong global presence. Despite this geographic diversification, the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) remains the backbone of its revenue generation.
As EQNR generates a significant portion of its income from upstream operations, its business model is sensitive to fluctuations in crude oil prices. The current elevated crude prices, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) trading above $100 per barrel compared with $61.05 per barrel a year earlier, per data from oilprice.com, create a highly favorable business environment for the company. Leveraging high-quality assets and newly online projects such as Verdande, along with this elevated price environment, Equinor is well-positioned to increase production.
This will likely enable the company to achieve its targeted 3% oil and gas production growth in 2026, as mentioned on its latest earnings call. The production growth facilitates increased revenues, which Equinor can reinvest into further exploration and the maintenance of essential mature fields on the NCS. At the same time, increased production enhances Equinor’s ability to remain a reliable energy supplier to Europe. The combination of strong upstream performance and a supportive price environment reinforces Equinor’s business stability and strengthens its appeal to investors.
Can XOM & CVX Take Advantage of the Elevated Crude Price?
Chevron Corporation CVX and Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM, like Equinor, have substantial involvement in upstream operations, exposing their business models to crude price volatility. Both companies possess high-quality, geographically diversified asset portfolios, with Chevron maintaining a strong position in the Permian Basin and ExxonMobil holding advantaged assets in the Permian Basin as well as offshore Guyana. Supported by these premium assets, both Chevron and ExxonMobil are well-positioned to capitalize on the elevated crude prices.
EQNR’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates
EQNR shares have gained 66.2% over the past year compared with 70.6% growth of the industry.
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From a valuation standpoint, EQNR trades at a trailing 12-month enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) of 3.04X. This is below the broader industry average of 6.1X.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EQNR's first-quarter 2026 earnings has remained unchanged over the past seven days. Meanwhile, estimates for the second quarter of 2026 and full-year 2026 earnings have seen upward revisions.
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EQNR currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).