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Nov 10, 3:06 AM
Moody’s upgraded SM Energy’s corporate family rating to Ba2 from Ba3 and its senior unsecured debt rating to Ba3 from B1, while revising its outlook to stable from positive. The upgrade reflects rapid balance-sheet improvement following major acquisitions and favorable commodity prices. Moody’s maintained its top-tier speculative-grade SGL-1 liquidity assessment.
The company’s 2026 Civitas Resources acquisition and its earlier purchase of an 80% stake in XCL Resources transformed SM Energy into a major multi-basin producer, increasing output to 433,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in Q3 2026, versus 170,000 two years earlier.
Deleveraging has been a key catalyst: SM completed
$1 billion in non-core asset sales and captured
$400 million in recurring synergies within ten months of the Civitas deal. Adjusted gross debt declined from a peak of
$8.1 billion in Q1 to
$6.8 billion in Q3, while retained cash flow to debt improved to 49% from 26%.
$SM
