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Crescent Energy Gains 10% in 3 Months: Should You Buy the Stock or Wait?

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Key Takeaways

  • Crescent Energy shares rose 9.9% in three months, outpacing the Oil-Energy sectors 5.6% gain.
  • Q2 results showed sales volume up 59.4%, revenues up 37.5%, and net income up 131.5%.
  • CRGY expanded its mineral portfolio with a $72M acquisition, boosting growth momentum.

Shares of Crescent Energy Company ((CRGY - Free Report) ) have risen an impressive 9.9% over the past three months, outperforming the Zacks Alternative-Energy industry’s return of 9.3% and the broader Zacks Oils-Energy sector’s rise of 5.6%. However, it lagged the S&P 500’s growth of 10.7% in the same period.

A stellar performance has been delivered by other industry players, such as Bloom Energy ((BE - Free Report) ) and Talen Energy ((TLN - Free Report) ), whose shares have surged 130.1% and 47.2%, respectively, over the past three months.

CRGY’s 3-Month Price Performance

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

What’s Been Pushing CRGY Stock Up?

Demand for natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) is surging across the United States, driven by rising use of natural gas in power generation and industrial processes, along with growing demand for NGLs from the expanding petrochemical industry and their use as feedstocks for biofuels and other renewable energy applications. This strong demand is driving higher production and sales of natural gas and NGLs, thereby bolstering Crescent Energy’s operational performance.

On the other hand, global population growth is boosting demand for transportation, cooking, and heating fuels, while technological advancements such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling are enhancing the efficiency of oil extraction and increasing supply. Together, these factors have been supporting higher oil production and, in turn, driving growth in Crescent Energy’s oil sales volumes.

Both these trends are evident in the company’s recently released second-quarter 2025 results.

CRGY’s average daily net sales volume for oil, natural gas, and NGLs improved a solid 59.4% year over year in the second quarter, which translated into a sharp revenue growth of 37.5% to $898 million. Moreover, its net income surged 131.5%. Meanwhile, its operating cash flow improved 77.6% to $836.1 million as of June 30, 2025, reflecting long-term liquidity strength.

This impressive performance highlights Crescent Energy’s growth momentum and likely reinforced investor confidence, contributing to the stock’s three-month share price gain noted above.

Further, the company closed the acquisition of complementary minerals assets for approximately $72 million in July, expanding its existing mineral portfolio. This news must have also played the role of a catalyst in CRGY’s recent price gain.

Will Crescent Energy Continue Its Rally?

As electricity consumption has been rising significantly across the United States, of late, particularly from power-hungry data centers, the aforementioned factors fueling CRGY’s growth will continue to bolster its performance in the coming quarters as well.

To this end, considering the steadily growing demand for natural gas, which has been the leading source of U.S. power generation since 2016, as stated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (“EIA”), the fundamental growth outlook for the natural gas market remains a strong tailwind for CRGY.

To reap the benefits of this trend, Crescent Energy has also been actively expanding its natural gas portfolio through strategic acquisitions. Notably, in February 2024, CRGY acquired a portfolio of oil and natural gas mineral interests located in the Karnes Trough of the Eagle Ford Basin.

Moreover, EIA expects a notable rise in natural gas spot prices in the United States for the fourth quarter of 2025 and the year 2026. This should further boost revenue growth for CRGY from natural gas sales.

However, a decline is expected in the U.S. oil prices in the near term, as projected by EIA in its latest short-term energy outlook report, primarily with OPEC members accelerating their production increases, which might outpace demand growth and pull down prices. This is likely to affect Crescent Energy’s revenue growth from oil in the coming quarters.

To this end, it is imperative to mention that CRGY faces headwinds from the cyclical nature of the energy sector, in which it operates. In particular, macroeconomic factors such as the Russia-Ukraine war, escalated tensions in the Middle East, global supply-chain constraints, elevated interest rates, and regulatory uncertainties like tariffs have caused periodic downturns in the prices of crude oil, natural gas and NGLs, leading to sustained volatility in recent periods.

Since Crescent Energy has no control over these external factors, the company remains exposed to such fluctuations, which, along with OPEC’s production decisions, can significantly influence demand and pricing dynamics. These externalities might cause Crescent Energy to not realize notable bottom-line gains despite generating higher revenues.

Now, let’s take a look at the company’s near-term estimates to check what they reflect.

CRGY’s Estimates

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 sales indicates a year-over-year improvement of 24.6%, while the same for 2026 implies a decline of 2.3%.

However, the near-term estimates for the company’s earnings suggest a decline from the prior-year period’s level.

On a brighter note, these estimates have moved north considerably in the past 60 days, indicating analysts’ increasing confidence in the stock’s earnings-generating capabilities.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

CRGY Shares Trading at a Discount

CRGY shares are cheap on a relative basis, with its forward 12-month Price/Earnings (P/E F12M) being 6.49X compared with its industry average of 20.48X. This suggests that investors will be paying a lower price than the company's expected earnings growth compared to that of its industry.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Its industry peers, Talen Energy and Bloom Energy, are, however, trading at a premium to the industry average. TLN is trading at a P/E F-12M of 23.55X, while BE is trading at 70.98X.

Short-Term Liquidity Risk

CRGY currently has a ratio of 0.89, which being less than 1, raises concern about the company holding sufficient capital to pay off its short-term debt obligations. Besides, its long-term debt value of $3.38 billion as of June 30, 2025, was quite higher than its cash balance of a mere $0.07 billion.

This significant debt burden and weak short-term liquidity position raise a red flag for investors concerned about the company's financial stability.

Should You Invest in CRGY Stock Now?

To conclude, new investors interested in Crescent Energy should wait for a better entry point, given its significant debt load, weak short-term liquidity and earnings estimates suggesting a year-over-year decline.

However, existing investors of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock may continue to hold it, considering its recent share price hike, solid sales growth potential and soaring cash flow. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.


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