Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE: CNQ) is a Calgary-based independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Established in the early 1970s and publicly listed in Canada and the United States, the company is principally engaged in the exploration, development, production, and marketing of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its asset base spans conventional and unconventional reservoirs and includes oil sands mining and in-situ thermal projects, midstream processing and upgrading capacity, and related field operations.

The company’s operations are concentrated in Western Canada, where it develops heavy crude, bitumen from oil sands and conventional light crude and natural gas resources. Canadian Natural is known for large-scale oil sands mining and bitumen upgrading projects as well as steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) in-situ developments. In addition to its Canadian portfolio, the company maintains international producing and exploration interests, supporting a diversified operational footprint and a range of production types across multiple basins.

Canadian Natural’s business model covers the full upstream cycle from exploration and reservoir development to production, processing and sales, supported by technical and operations teams focused on cost control and long-life inventory. The company is publicly traded and reports under Canadian regulatory standards; corporate governance and executive leadership are disclosed in its annual and regulatory filings. Its combination of oil sands assets, conventional production and international interests positions it as one of Canada’s larger independent energy producers.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $40.81 to $42.21
• 50-Day Range: $40.97 to $49.40
• 52-Week Range: $29.30 to $51.34
• Volume: 16.82 million shs
• Average Volume: 8.23 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $85.27 billion
• P/E Ratio: 12.23
• Dividend Yield: 4.42%
• Price Target: $57.00
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Canadian Natural Resources Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Canadian Natural Resources scored higher than 93% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 26th out of 252 stocks in the energy sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 4.1 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Canadian Natural Resources has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.58, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 7 buy ratings, 5 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside Potential

Canadian Natural Resources has a consensus price target of $57.00, representing about 39.1% upside from its current price of $40.97.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Canadian Natural Resources has only been the subject of 4 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.3 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: -13.57%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Canadian Natural Resources are expected to decrease by -13.57% in the coming year, from $4.20 to $3.63 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Canadian Natural Resources is 12.23, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 44.69.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Canadian Natural Resources is 12.23, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Energy sector average P/E ratio of about 19.27.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Canadian Natural Resources has a P/B Ratio of 2.69. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

2.61% of the float of Canadian Natural Resources has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Canadian Natural Resources has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 7.43.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Canadian Natural Resources has recently increased by 280.52%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 5.0 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Leadership

Canadian Natural Resources is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 4.46%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Canadian Natural Resources has been increasing its dividend for 24 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Canadian Natural Resources is 54.63%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Canadian Natural Resources will have a dividend payout ratio of 50.41% next year. This indicates that Canadian Natural Resources will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.7 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.97

News Sentiment

Canadian Natural Resources has a news sentiment score of 0.97. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.78 average news sentiment score of Energy companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 13 news articles for Canadian Natural Resources this week, compared to 5 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 25 people have searched for CNQ on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -65% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

20 people have added Canadian Natural Resources to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 400% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 0.9 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Canadian Natural Resources insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

5.00% of the stock of Canadian Natural Resources is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

74.03% of the stock of Canadian Natural Resources is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 4/7 Dividend: 3/20/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 4/7 Dividend: 3/20/2026
• Dividend Payable: 4/07/2026
• Last Earnings: 5/07/2026
• Today: 6/20/2026
• Record date for 7/7 Dividend: 6/23/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 7/7 Dividend: 6/23/2026
• Dividend Payable: 7/07/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 8/06/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Energy
• Industry: OIL - C$ EXP&PROD
• Sub-Industry: Petroleum And Natural Gas
• Current Symbol: NYSE:CNQ
• CIK: 1017413
• Web: www.cnrl.com
• Phone: (403) 514-7777
• Fax: 403-517-7350
• Employees: 10,750
• Year Founded: 1989

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Canadian Natural Resources: $57.00
• High Price Target: $65.00
• Low Price Target: $49.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +39.1%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.58
• Research Coverage: 12 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $3.35
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 12.23
• Forward P/E Ratio: 9.75
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $7.74 billion
• Net Margins: 22.04%
• Pretax Margin: 27.02%
• Return on Equity: 17.49%
• Return on Assets: 8.37%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.37
• Current Ratio: 0.98
• Quick Ratio: 0.68

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $31.61 billion
• Price / Sales: 2.69
• Cash Flow: $5.77 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 7.10
• Book Value: $15.25 per share
• Price / Book: 2.69

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 2,075,640,000
• Free Float: 1,971,853,000
• Market Cap: $85.04 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.45