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FANG, Diamondback Energy Inc.

Oil & Gas Producers capital-intensive Cyclical

Revenue is led by Oil sales (77%) and Oil Purchased (10%), with 2 more lines behind.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K

FANG · Diamondback Energy Inc.

The business

What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.

Revenue · FY2025

$15.0B

+35.8% YoY · 40% 5-yr CAGR

Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average

Revenue $15.2B 5-yr avg $10.2B

Operating margin −1.9% 5-yr avg 46.0%

ROIC −1% 5-yr avg 13%

Owner-earnings margin 18% 5-yr avg 39%

Free cash flow margin 18% 5-yr avg 28%

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.

What it is: An oil and gas business, whose fortunes rise and fall with a price it does not set.
Situation: Cyclical. Margins collapse and recover repeatedly across the record; a single year, good or bad, misstates the through-cycle earning power.
What moves the needle: Operating margin has run about 40% through the cycle, a wide margin for the work it does — whether that reflects a durable edge or one that can fade is what the record weighs. The margin is cyclical, swinging between −199% and 68% over the years, so the through-cycle figure carries more than any single year — and the balance sheet at the trough more than the peak. Capital spending runs about 24% of sales, so the return earned on what it sinks into that plant weighs as much as the margin. Read this kind of business on the commodity price, and the cost to lift a barrel. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on pricing power & competition, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
Is it a good business?: Return on capital has sat near the cost of capital (median 7%). By owner earnings: roughly 47% of revenue reaches owners as cash, consistently. The cycle and the balance sheet decide this one; the worst year tells more than the median, and the rest is in the 10-K.

Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.

Where the money comes from

read the 10-K →

Oil sales is 77% of revenue, with Oil Purchased the other meaningful line at 10%.

Revenue by product line, FY2025

Oil sales77%$11.6B
Oil Purchased10%$1.5B
Natural gas liquid sales10%$1.4B
Natural gas sales3%$400M

From the segment footnote of the company's own 10-K. Shares are of total revenue; the profit bar shows each segment's share of segment operating profit, before unallocated corporate costs.

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2016–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left

2016’16	2017’17	2018’18	2019’19	2020’20	2021’21	2022’22	2023’23	2024’24	2025’25	TTMTTMMar 2026
											Income statement
$527M	$1.2B	$2.1B	$3.9B	$2.8B	$6.7B	$9.6B	$8.4B	$11.1B	$15.0B	$15.2B	RevenueRevenue
8%	4%	3%	3%	3%	2%	2%	2%	2%	2%	2%	SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev
($69M)	$605M	$1.0B	$695M	($5.5B)	$4.0B	$6.5B	$4.6B	$4.4B	$1.3B	($291M)	Operating incomeOp. inc.
−13.0%	50.2%	47.5%	17.9%	−198.7%	59.3%	68.0%	54.3%	39.7%	8.4%	−1.9%	Operating marginOp. mgn
($165M)	$482M	$846M	$240M	($4.5B)	$2.2B	$4.4B	$3.1B	$3.3B	$1.7B	$284M	Net incomeNet inc.
—	-4%	17%	16%	—	22%	21%	22%	19%	16%	—	Effective tax rateTax rate
											Cash flow & returns
$332M	$889M	$1.6B	$2.7B	$2.1B	$3.9B	$6.3B	$5.9B	$6.4B	$8.8B	$8.2B	Operating cash flowOp. cash
$178M	$327M	$623M	$1.5B	$1.3B	$1.3B	$1.3B	$1.7B	$2.9B	$5.0B	$5.2B	DepreciationDeprec.
$293M	$54M	$69M	$997M	$5.3B	$436M	$540M	$977M	$160M	$2.1B	$2.6B	Working capital & otherWC & other
$611M	$2.0B	$1.4B	$776M	$198M	$787M	$1.7B	$2.0B	$8.9B	$5.9B	$5.5B	CapexCapex
116.0%	162.7%	64.4%	20.0%	7.2%	11.7%	17.5%	23.9%	80.6%	39.5%	36.2%	Capex / revenueCapex/rev
$154M	$562M	$942M	$2.0B	$1.9B	$3.2B	$4.7B	$3.9B	$3.6B	$2.8B	$2.7B	Owner earningsOwner earn.
29.2%	46.6%	44.2%	50.5%	69.7%	46.8%	48.6%	46.4%	32.2%	18.8%	17.9%	Owner earnings marginOE mgn
($279M)	($1.1B)	$194M	$2.0B	$1.9B	$3.2B	$4.7B	$3.9B	($2.5B)	$2.8B	$2.7B	Free cash flowFCF
−53.0%	−89.0%	9.1%	50.5%	69.7%	46.8%	48.6%	46.4%	−22.7%	18.8%	17.9%	Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
$0	$0	$37M	$112M	$236M	$312M	$1.6B	$1.4B	$1.6B	$1.2B	$1.2B	Dividends paidDiv. paid
—	$0	$0	$593M	$98M	$431M	$1.1B	$840M	$959M	—	—	BuybacksBuybacks
-2%	9%	5%	—	-30%	17%	24%	16%	7%	2%	-1%	ROICROIC
-4%	9%	6%	2%	-51%	18%	29%	19%	9%	5%	1%	Return on equityROE
−4%	9%	6%	1%	−54%	15%	19%	10%	5%	1%	−2%	Retained to equityRetained/eq
											Balance sheet
$1.7B	$112M	$215M	$123M	$104M	$654M	$157M	$582M	$161M	$104M	$174M	Cash & investmentsCash+inv
$70M	$159M	$296M	$429M	$281M	$598M	$618M	$654M	$1.4B	$1.1B	$1.8B	ReceivablesReceiv.
$2M	$9M	$37M	$37M	$33M	$62M	$67M	$63M	$116M	$86M	$79M	InventoryInvent.
$48M	$95M	$128M	$179M	$71M	$36M	$127M	$261M	$253M	—	$426M	Accounts payablePayables
$25M	$73M	$205M	$287M	$243M	$624M	$558M	$456M	$1.3B	$1.2B	$1.5B	Operating working capitalOper. WC
$1.8B	$359M	$925M	$869M	$602M	$1.4B	$1.4B	$1.6B	$2.1B	$1.9B	$2.7B	Current assetsCur. assets
$209M	$577M	$1.0B	$1.3B	$1.2B	$1.4B	$1.7B	$2.1B	$4.8B	$4.6B	$4.8B	Current liabilitiesCur. liab.
8.6×	0.6×	0.9×	0.7×	0.5×	1.0×	0.8×	0.8×	0.4×	0.4×	0.6×	Current ratioCurr. ratio
$5.3B	$7.8B	$21.6B	$23.5B	$17.6B	$22.9B	$26.2B	$29.0B	$67.3B	$71.1B	$70.1B	Total assetsAssets
$1.1B	$1.5B	$4.5B	$5.4B	$5.8B	$6.7B	$6.2B	$6.6B	$13.0B	$14.5B	$13.9B	Total debtDebt
($561M)	$1.4B	$4.2B	$5.2B	$5.7B	$6.0B	$6.1B	$6.1B	$12.8B	$14.4B	$13.7B	Net debt / (cash)Net debt
-1.7×	14.8×	11.6×	4.0×	-27.8×	20.1×	42.3×	28.7×	32.6×	5.2×	-1.2×	Interest coverageInt. cov.
$3.7B	$5.3B	$13.7B	$13.2B	$8.8B	$12.1B	$15.0B	$16.6B	$37.7B	$37.0B	$36.5B	Shareholders’ equityEquity
5.0%	2.2%	1.3%	1.2%	1.3%	0.8%	0.6%	0.6%	0.6%	—	0.5%	Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev
											Per share
75.1M	97.7M	105M	164M	158M	177M	177M	180M	214M	289M	283M	Shares out (diluted)Shares
$7.02	$12.34	$20.30	$23.72	$17.45	$38.20	$54.19	$46.73	$51.82	$51.98	$53.81	Revenue / shareRev/sh
$-2.20	$4.93	$8.06	$1.46	$-28.59	$12.35	$24.84	$17.46	$15.63	$5.76	$1.00	EPS (diluted)EPS
$2.05	$5.75	$8.98	$11.98	$12.15	$17.87	$26.34	$21.71	$16.69	$9.76	$9.65	Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$-3.72	$-10.97	$1.85	$11.98	$12.15	$17.87	$26.34	$21.71	$-11.74	$9.76	$9.65	Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$0.00	$0.00	$0.35	$0.68	$1.49	$1.77	$8.90	$8.02	$7.39	$4.00	$4.11	Dividends / shareDiv/sh
$8.14	$20.07	$13.07	$4.74	$1.25	$4.46	$9.49	$11.18	$41.77	$20.54	$19.46	Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$49.25	$53.79	$130.56	$80.86	$55.67	$68.43	$85.02	$92.36	$176.71	$127.90	$128.97	Book value / shareBVPS

The diluted share count moved ×1.56 into 2019 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded

	9-yr	5-yr
Revenue / share	+24.9%/yr	+24.4%/yr
Owner earnings / share	+18.9%/yr	−4.3%/yr
Dividends / share	—	+21.8%/yr
Capital spending / share	+10.8%/yr	+74.9%/yr
Book value / share	+11.2%/yr	+18.1%/yr

The record, charted

FY2016–2025

Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked.

Share count

289Mpeak FY2025

ROIC

2%low FY2020

Net debt ÷ owner earnings

5.1×peak FY2025

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

The accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.

$2.8Bowner earningsvs.$1.7Bnet incomelow FY2016

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetained

Each year's operating cash, by what management did with it: the mix, and how it drifts.

FY2016FY2025

Owner-earnings bridge

FY2021–FY2025cash-flow statement, SEC EDGAR →

Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.

In fiscal 2025 the business turned $1.7B of profit into $2.8B of owner earnings: more cash than the profit line showed, after the non-cash charges and the capital it put back in.

Reported net income$1.7B

Owner earnings$2.8B · 19% of revenue

	FY2025	FY2024	FY2023	FY2022	FY2021
Reported net income	$1.7B	$3.3B	$3.1B	$4.4B	$2.2B
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back	+$5.0B	+$2.9B	+$1.7B	+$1.3B	+$1.3B
Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost	—	+$65M	+$54M	+$55M	+$51M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items	+$2.1B	+$160M	+$977M	+$540M	+$436M
Cash from operations	$8.8B	$6.4B	$5.9B	$6.3B	$3.9B
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume	−$5.9B	−$2.9B	−$2.0B	−$1.7B	−$787M
Owner earnings	$2.8B	$3.6B	$3.9B	$4.7B	$3.2B
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still	—	−$6.1B	—	—	—
Free cash flow	$2.8B	($2.5B)	$3.9B	$4.7B	$3.2B
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue	19%	32%	46%	49%	47%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the capital it must spend to hold its position .

Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.

III

Quality & stewardship

Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2025 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →

Will it survive?

Can it pay its interest? 5.2×

Comfortable

Operating income $1.3B ÷ interest expense $244M

What this means
Operating profit covers interest with the kind of margin Graham wanted for a defensive holding. Necessary, not sufficient, it says solvent, not cheap.
How heavy is the debt, net of cash? $14.4B · 11.4× operating profit

Heavy net debt

Cash $104M − debt $14.5B

What this means
Netting $104M of cash and short-term investments against $14.5B of debt leaves $14.4B owed, about 11.4× a year's operating profit. Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.
How long is cash tied up? —

Not enough data

What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

Is it a good business?

Return on invested capital 7%

Below average through the cycle

9-yr median, range -30%–24%; 2% latest = NOPAT $1.1B ÷ invested capital $51.4B

Industry peers: median 9%

What this means
The rate the business earns on the money tied up in it, Buffett's north star, because over time a stock tracks the ROIC beneath it. Above ~15% sustained hints at a moat; a return below the cost of capital (~8%) erodes value as a business grows rather than building it — the test Buffett weighs most. The headline is the median of the last 9 years (it ran 2% most recently), so one peak or trough year doesn't set the verdict. Asset-light businesses (R&D expensed, little capital) read artificially high, pair this with Owner Earnings.
Owner-earnings margin 46%

High through the cycle

10-yr median margin, range 19%–70%; latest $2.8B = operating cash $8.8B − maintenance capex $5.9B

Industry peers: median 20%

What this means
What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's 19% of revenue this year, a 46% median across 10 years. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $65M of SBC) leaves $2.8B.
Are earnings backed by cash? 5.26×

Cash-backed

Cash from ops $8.8B ÷ net income $1.7B

What this means
How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.

How is the cash used?

Where do the earnings go? 75%

Returns about half

Dividends + buybacks $2.1B ÷ Owner Earnings $2.8B

What this means
Of $2.8B Owner Earnings, $2.1B (75%) went back to shareholders, $1.2B dividends, $959M buybacks. Net of $65M stock comp, the real buyback was about $894M. Returning most of it is the mark of a mature business with little left to reinvest at a high return; reinvesting most could mean a long runway, or empire-building. The split doesn't say which; the return earned on it (see ROIC) does.
Investing or harvesting? 1.18×

Maintaining

Capex $5.9B ÷ depreciation $5.0B

What this means
Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.

Graham’s defensive tests · 2 of 6 met

Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.

Adequate size Pass

Revenue ≥ $2B · $15.0B

What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
Strong liquidity Miss

Current ratio ≥ 2× · 0.42×

What this means
Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.
Conservative debt Miss

Debt ≤ working capital · $14.5B vs ($2.7B) WC

What this means
Graham's rule that borrowings not exceed net current assets. Capital-heavy and buyback-heavy firms routinely fail it, read it next to interest coverage, not alone.
Earnings stability Miss

A profit every year (10-yr record) · 2 loss years

What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
Dividend record Miss

Uninterrupted dividends · 8 of 10 yrs

What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design.
Earnings growth Pass

Earnings +33% over the record · +600%

What this means
At least a third more earnings than a decade ago, averaging three years at each end. Net income (not per-share), so stock splits don't distort it, buybacks and dilution show up in the share-count line instead.
Moderate price —

P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price

What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $9.65/share (latest year $5.92), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $131.43/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.

Durability & moat, 2016–2025

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

Profitable years 8 of 10

What this means
Lost money in 2 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.
Return on capital ≥ 15% 3 of 10 yrs

What this means
A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.
Operating margin 28% → 34% (3-yr avg ends)

What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about 28% early to 34% lately, median 40% — pricing power intact or improving.
Reinvestment, incremental ROIC 7%

What this means
Reinvested capital came back at only a modest incremental return — near the cost of capital, where extra growth adds little per dollar. The record shows whether it is a soft stretch or a thinning moat.
Owner earnings growth +28%/yr

What this means
Owner earnings grew about 28% a year over the record.
Worst year 2020 · −198.7% op. margin

What this means
Operations went underwater in 2020, understand why before trusting the good years.
Dividend record rising

What this means
Paid and raised the dividend across the record, the continuity Graham prized.

Does AI threaten the moat?

Low contestability

The moat is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded, the kind AI cuts costs within but does not contest.

AI is unlikely to contest a moat that is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded; here it reads more as a cost tool than a threat.

Read from the filing's own risk factors, paired with the industry's structure under its SIC code; the durability is read above, the price below.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

Current Position

as of the latest quarter, Mar 31, 2026

Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.

Current assets$2.7B

Cash & short-term investments$174M
Receivables$1.8B
Inventory$79M
Other current assets$617M

Current liabilities$4.8B

Debt due within a year$749M
Accounts payable$426M
Other current liabilities$3.6B

Current ratio0.56×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×

Quick ratio0.55×stricter: inventory excluded

Cash ratio0.04×strictest: cash alone against what's due

Working capital($2.1B)the cushion left after near-term bills

Debt due this year vs. cash$749M due · $174M cash cash alone won't cover the maturities; it leans on refinancing or operating cash · both figures from the Mar 31, 2026 balance sheet

Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+4.7%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing

Current ratio, recent quarters3.7× → 0.6×

Deeper floors

Tangible book value$36.5Bequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles

Net current asset value($24.7B)Graham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities

Debt incl. operating leases$13.9B$13M of it operating leases

Deferred revenue$1.5Bcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float

From the company's latest filing.

Debt maturity

the debt note, SEC EDGAR →

Not how much it owes, but when it falls due, and against what. The ladder the company files, beside cash on hand and a year's owner earnings.

'26$763M

'27$1.9B

'28$73M

'29$915M

'30$1.5B

later$9.6B

Bars scaled to the largest single year; “later” is everything due after 2030, shown apart since it dwarfs the years.

Due in the next 12 months$763Mthe first rung: what must be repaid or rolled over within the year

Within two years$2.7Bthe near wall, the part most exposed to today’s credit conditions

Biggest single year$1.9Bin 2027the lumpiest maturity, where a refinancing, if needed, is largest

Total scheduled principal$14.7Bevery year plus what lies beyond, as the footnote totals it

Against what the business has and earns

Cash & short-term investments, Mar 31, 2026$174M

One year of owner earnings (FY2025)$2.8B

Together, against $763M due next year3.9×

Cash on hand as of Mar 31, 2026 plus a year’s owner earnings comes to $3.0B against the $763M due in the twelve months after the Dec 31, 2025 schedule: 3.9 times it.

Maturity schedule extracted from the company’s Dec 31, 2025 annual report and reconciled to the total the table states.

How the cash was used, 2016–2025

Over the record, the business generated $39.0B of operating cash; how management split it reads as a reinvestor, most operating cash is plowed back into the business.

Reinvested$24.3B · 62%
Dividends$6.4B · 17%
Buybacks$4.0B · 10%
Retained (debt / cash)$4.3B · 11%

Returned to owners$10.5B
44% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, $6.4B as dividends and $4.0B as buybacks.
Source of fundingOperating cash
Operating cash covered reinvestment and returns; over the span debt rose $12.8B and cash and short-term investments fell $1.5B.
Average price paid for buybacks—
Buybacks ran $4.0B over the span, but the filings don't tag the share count needed to deduce the average price paid.
Net change in share count276.7%
The diluted count rose from 75M to 283M: issuance (stock pay, deals) outran any buybacks, so owners were diluted on net.
Dividend record$4.00/sh
Paid in 8 of the years on record. It was cut at least once along the way.
Return on what it retained—
Not read here: owner earnings are negative over the span, or the company returned nearly all its earnings rather than retaining them, so there is too little retained to measure a return on.

Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.

Management, ownership & pay

read the proxy →

From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid, beside what the business earned for its owners in the same years.

Fiscal year	Pay, as filed	“Actually paid”	Owner earnings
2021	$13.5M	$24.0M	$3.2B
2022	$17.2M	$17.7M	$4.7B
2023	$17.6M	$34.3M	$3.9B
2024	$21.3M	$29.1M	$3.6B
2025	$14.9M	$12.6M	$2.8B
2025	$20.5M	$16.6M	$2.8B

Both pay figures are the company’s own, from the pay-versus-performance table its proxy statement files. “As filed” is the Summary Compensation Table total: salary, bonus, and equity awards at their value on the day of grant. “Actually paid” is the SEC’s prescribed recalculation, which re-marks those equity awards to what they became as they vested; it can swing far above or below the filed figure in either direction, and negative years occur. Owner earnings are the whole business's, from the record above, for the same fiscal years.

Insider ownership<1%
The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2026 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.
CEO pay ratio89:1
What the chief earns for every dollar the median employee makes, per the 2026 proxy. A high ratio alone settles nothing; some businesses are genuinely top-heavy in scarce skill. A runaway figure is where Buffett starts asking whether the board is doing its job.
Stock-based compensation$65M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 0% of revenue, equal to 5% of operating profit. Buffett's oldest accounting fight: this is compensation, compensation is an expense, real whether or not the headline earnings admit it. One trap: the cash-flow statement adds SBC back, so the operating cash, and the owner earnings drawn from it, are flattered by exactly this amount; counted as the cost it is, what an owner keeps is lower.

Inverting the record

Invert: instead of why Diamondback Energy Inc. is a good business, the question is what would make owning it a mistake, and whether those marks are in the record. Disconfirming tests across 2016–2025.

3 of the 5 tests turned up something to look into; the other 2 came back clean.

Look hereIs it less profitable than it was?32.5% vs 40.0%
The owner-earnings margin averaged 40.0% early in the record and 32.5% across the last three years, and the latest year has not recovered. Ask the filing whether that is a structural drift or a cyclical trough — price, mix, cost, or a competitor — and whether it is permanent.
Look hereDid the share count rise anyway?276.7%
Diluted shares grew 276.7% over 2016–2025, even as the company spent $4.0B on buybacks. The repurchases were outrun by issuance — to staff, in a raise, or in a deal — and the filing says which; owners' slice still shrank. Read the buyback line beside this one, not on its own.
Look hereDid debt outgrow the business?$1.1B → $13.9B
Debt rose from $1.1B to $13.9B while owner earnings went from about $553M to $3.4B — about 2.0 years of owner earnings in debt then, about 4.1 now: measured against what the business earns, the balance sheet carries more debt than it did. Debt raised for buybacks or deals rather than growth is the kind that bites in a downturn.

And these came back clean

Did reported profit become cash?
Did receivables and inventory outpace sales?

Each test is read from the filings and is noisy alone; a flag can mark a cyclical trough or a year of heavy investment as easily as a problem. The filing says which.

Peers, Oil & Gas Producers

The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each figure is a through-cycle median, so a peak or trough year can’t distort it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each against.

Company	Revenue	Gross margin	Op. margin	ROIC	Owner earn. margin
EOGEOG Resources Inc.	$22.6B	—	27.0%	15%	25%
OXYOccidental Petroleum Corporation	$21.6B	86%	17.9%	7%	21%
DVNDevon Energy Corporation	$16.8B	53%	20.7%	12%	20%
FANGDiamondback Energy Inc.	$15.0B	—	43.6%	7%	47%
EXEExpand Energy Corporation	$12.1B	—	-0.9%	-0%	5%
OVVOvintiv	$8.7B	—	17.7%	12%	17%
EQTEQT Corporation	$8.6B	63%	-3.8%	-1%	18%
CTRACoterra Energy Inc.	$7.3B	—	34.8%	9%	33%
Group median	—	—	19.3%	8%	20%

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Type today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what Diamondback Energy Inc. has delivered.

Today’s price $

Through the cycle, Diamondback Energy Inc. earns about $7.0B on its 46.5% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s 18.8% margin runs below that; the reported figure may understate a lean year. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year.

Base Normalize · through-cycle ($7.0B) Net of stock comp (−$77M)

—

The assumptions Required return 9% Years of high growth 10 Terminal growth 2.5%

9.0% = the 4.55% 10-year Treasury (Jul 15, 2026) + 4.45 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.

Enter a price above to run it.

Implied by the price—

Owner-earnings growth · ’21→’25−5%/yr

Owner-earnings growth, delivered—

Owner-earnings yield—

P/E (3-yr earnings ’23–’25)—

P/B—

Graham’s price gate—

Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.

Against a high-grade bond: Graham’s yardstick bond yield%

Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.55%, as of Jul 15, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.

Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.

Owner earnings $2.7B on 281M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-05-01; net debt $13.7B. The base is the latest year by default; Normalize values it on the through-cycle median owner-earnings margin (to avoid paying on a peak year). Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.

Weigh FANG against another business →

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Diamondback Energy Inc. (FANG), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/FANG, data as of 2026-07-09.

Manual order: ← FAF its page in the Manual FAST →

Industry order: ← EXE the Oil & Gas Producers chapter GFR →