One-glance verdict
Within fair range
$52.87 our estimate vs market $49.65
Wall Street consensus: $48.16 (-8.9% lower than our fair-value estimate)
6% below our estimate
Fundamentals snapshot
Canadian Natural Resources Limited
CNQ · NYQ · Energy · Oil & Gas E&P
Current price
$49.65
52-week range
$29.68 - $52.31
Market cap
$102.35B
Balance sheet
Watch
7.92x Adequate
Net debt $12.31B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
3 Risks
3 rewards · 3 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 6.4% last year.
- Reward Returns 26.7% on equity, ahead of 83% of its peers.
- Risk Net debt grew 58.9% over 3 years.
- Risk Stock trades 52.5% above its 5-year average P/E.
What this company does
Canadian Natural Resources Limited
Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNQ) digs up and sells oil and natural gas, which are key ingredients for things like gasoline and heating. Most of their earnings come from selling these energy products, and this matters because the price of oil and gas directly impacts how much money they make. They also have some pipeline infrastructure to help move their products, which is part of their overall business.
How the company got here
Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) was founded in 1989 and has grown into one of the world's largest independent oil and natural gas producers. The company's journey began with a focus on conventional oil and gas in Western Canada, but a key turning point was its strategic pivot into oil sands development in 2000 with the Horizon Oil Sands project. This marked a significant commitment to large-scale mining and upgrading operations. Over the years, CNRL has expanded its reach through strategic acquisitions, including assets in the North Sea and offshore Africa, diversifying its geographic footprint. The company's growth has been guided by a philosophy of disciplined capital allocation and operational efficiency, aiming to build a portfolio of long-life, low-decline assets that generate consistent cash flow. CNRL is publicly traded on both the Toronto and New York stock exchanges.
What it actually does
Canadian Natural Resources Limited is a major player in the energy sector, focused on finding, developing, and producing oil and natural gas. Think of them as a company that digs up and processes the raw materials that eventually become gasoline for cars, heating fuel for homes, and ingredients for plastics. They operate in diverse locations, including Western Canada, the North Sea, and offshore Africa. Their operations involve extracting various types of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs), which are then marketed and sold. Essentially, CNRL is involved in the entire process from exploration to selling the final energy products.
Oil Sands Mining & Upgrading (Synthetic Crude Oil / SCO)
This is CNRL's largest and most significant business. They extract bitumen, a thick, tar-like form of crude oil, from oil sands through mining operations in northern Alberta. This bitumen is then processed and upgraded into synthetic crude oil (SCO), which is a higher-quality, lighter crude oil. SCO is a primary product that CNRL sells, and this segment represents the single largest portion of their revenue due to the large volumes produced. This process is capital-intensive, meaning it requires a lot of investment in equipment and facilities.
Conventional Crude Oil & Natural Gas
This segment involves the exploration, development, and production of more traditional forms of oil and natural gas found in underground reservoirs. CNRL extracts light and medium crude oil, as well as natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) from various locations, including Western Canada, the UK's North Sea, and offshore Africa. While these basins may be considered mature, the company employs new technologies to improve recovery rates. This part of the business contributes to a balanced portfolio, diversifying CNRL's revenue streams beyond just oil sands.
Heavy Crude Oil
Canadian Natural is a major producer of heavy crude oil, which is a denser and more viscous type of oil compared to light crude. This category includes different types of heavy oil, such as primary heavy crude oil and Pelican Lake heavy crude oil. These operations are primarily located in Western Canada. Heavy crude oil requires specific extraction and processing methods due to its thickness. CNRL also has midstream assets, like pipelines, that help transport this heavy oil to market.
What management is betting on now
Canadian Natural's strategy centers on maintaining a balance between different types of energy production, like natural gas, light crude oil, heavy crude oil, and synthetic crude oil. This diversification helps reduce risk from fluctuating prices of any single commodity. They focus on being an efficient producer with long-life, low-decline assets, which means their wells can produce for a long time with less need for constant new drilling. Management prioritizes financial strength and flexibility in allocating capital, aiming to maximize shareholder value through dividends and share buybacks, while also investing in projects that offer long-term growth potential.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $52.87 vs current price $49.65
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $48.16 (-8.9% lower than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $52.87 a share — about 6.5% away from today's price of $49.65, so the stock currently looks fairly priced.
Is it drowning in debt?
Watch
Net debt $12.3B. Interest coverage 7.9x.
Net debt
$12.31B
Interest coverage
7.92x
Canadian Natural Resources Limited's profit covers its interest bill about 7.9 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here.
Watch
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
CNQ
BASELINE
Canadian Natural Resources Limited
Total debt $14.14B Interest coverage 7.92x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $23.29B Interest coverage 9.20x +16% vs CNQ Carries about 1.2x more debt cushion than CNQ.
Total debt $8.25B Interest coverage 30.85x +290% vs CNQ Carries about 3.9x more debt cushion than CNQ.
Total debt $11.89B Interest coverage 7.76x -2% vs CNQ Has roughly the same debt cushion as CNQ.
Total debt $12.61B Interest coverage 18.56x +134% vs CNQ Carries about 2.3x more debt cushion than CNQ.
Total debt $14.63B Interest coverage 3.45x -56% vs CNQ Carries about 2.3x less debt cushion than CNQ.
What you should know
The case for and against CNQ
3 Rewards
3 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 6.4% last year.
-
Returns 26.7% on equity, ahead of 83% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 4/10 years.
Risks
-
Net debt grew 58.9% over 3 years.
-
Stock trades 52.5% above its 5-year average P/E.
-
Forward P/E (12.7x) is higher than trailing (12.2x) - earnings are expected to drop.
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
12.20x
Forward P/E
12.67x
P/B
3.13x
P/S
2.29x
EV/EBITDA
6.27x
PEG ratio
3.42x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
51.6%
Operating margin
43.1%
Net margin
26.3%
ROE
26.7%
ROA
7.9%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
0.43x
Current ratio
1.00x
Quick ratio
0.70x
Total debt
$14.14B
Total cash
$1.83B
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$31.30B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
-3.7%
EPS TTM
4.07
EPS 5Y CAGR
2.7%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$10.58B
Free CF TTM
$5.83B
FCF margin
18.6%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
3.5%
Payout ratio
43.1%
Last ex-div date
2026-09-11