California Resources vs SM Energy
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The short version
- California Resources is the larger business, with $3.7B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $3.2B for SM Energy.
- SM Energy grew revenue faster (17.3%, against 14.7%).
- SM Energy kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (31.7% operating margin, against 16.3%).
- SM Energy earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (11.1%, against 9.5%).
| Latest fiscal year | CRC · FY25 | SM · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $4.9B | $9.6B |
| Revenue | $3.7B | $3.2B |
| Free cash flow | $543M | — |
| Net income | $363M | $648M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 14.7% | 17.3% |
| 5-year growth | 6.9% | 22.9% |
| Share count change | 7.4% | −0.9% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 16.3% | 31.7% |
| Net margin | 9.9% | 20.6% |
| FCF margin | 14.8% | — |
| Return on capital | 9.5% | 11.1% |
| Return on equity | 10.1% | 14.3% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $1.2B | $2.3B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.0x | — |
| Dividends and buybacks | $513M | $105M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | — |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
CRC $1.5B
SM $1.2B
FY17
CRC $2.0B
SM $1.1B
FY18
CRC $3.1B
SM $2.1B
FY19
CRC $2.6B
SM $1.6B
FY20
CRC —
SM $1.1B
FY21
CRC $1.9B
SM $2.6B
FY22
CRC $2.7B
SM $3.4B
FY23
CRC $2.8B
SM $2.4B
FY24
CRC $3.2B
SM $2.7B
FY25
CRC $3.7B
SM $3.2B
CRC
SM
Operating margin
FY16
CRC −18.9%
SM −86.8%
FY17
CRC 3.6%
SM −14.5%
FY18
CRC 25.1%
SM 40.5%
FY19
CRC 16.3%
SM −4.4%
FY20
CRC —
SM −94.9%
FY21
CRC 15.5%
SM 8.0%
FY22
CRC 30.0%
SM 47.0%
FY23
CRC 28.9%
SM 41.6%
FY24
CRC 19.4%
SM 40.0%
FY25
CRC 16.3%
SM 31.7%
CRC
SM
Free cash flow
FY16
CRC $55.0M
SM —
FY17
CRC −$123M
SM —
FY18
CRC −$229M
SM —
FY19
CRC $221M
SM —
FY20
CRC —
SM —
FY21
CRC $466M
SM —
FY22
CRC $311M
SM —
FY23
CRC $468M
SM —
FY24
CRC $355M
SM —
FY25
CRC $543M
SM —
CRC
SM
Return on capital
FY16
CRC −5.9%
SM −37.4%
FY17
CRC 1.2%
SM −5.4%
FY18
CRC 16.1%
SM 25.0%
FY19
CRC 8.8%
SM −1.9%
FY20
CRC —
SM −23.7%
FY21
CRC —
SM 4.1%
FY22
CRC 27.1%
SM 31.4%
FY23
CRC 27.6%
SM 20.1%
FY24
CRC 13.8%
SM 14.9%
FY25
CRC 9.5%
SM 11.1%
CRC
SM
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.