On October 26, natural gas producer EQT Corp (EQT) announced an agreement to acquire Range Resources (RRC) in an all-stock deal.
In the deal, Range Resources would receive 0.987 shares of EQT, valued at $54.91 on October 23, for each share of RRC. The value is a 21% premium to the RRC closing price on October 23. The deal values RRC at $12.8 billion.
The combined company will have a $50 billion market value.
I have had EQT in my Velocity Report portfolio since October 2025. The stock hasn’t been a barn burner, with a 6.5% total return when factoring in our quarterly rebalancing tactics. I wanted a pure-play natural gas producer in the portfolio, and EQT is the largest by market cap, as well as being the lowest-cost producer.
The RRC acquisition should improve efficiencies for the combined company. With the announcement, EQT noted that the deal would increase its free cash flow breakeven to less than $2.00/MMBtu. The company expects $325 million in annual savings through corporate, operational, and marketing efficiencies.
One major benefit of this deal is that Range Resources is a prolific natural gas liquids (NGLs) producer, while EQT primarily produces dry gas.
As the most efficient natural gas producer, EQT can deliver long-term gains for investors. Mechanical tactics like share buybacks and dividend increases are ways to distribute cash to investors. Share buybacks reduce the share count, so mechanically increase earnings per share.
Natural gas is the natural choice for the massive amounts of electrical power the data center buildout will require. EQT has made direct deals with power producers, and the demand from AI and the data centers should push natural gas prices higher.
Here is the EQT three-year chart:
The EQT price is up 30%. You can see the price swings, which makes the stock a great stock for some at the margin, harvesting gains and buying on dips. Note: Portions of this article were written with the assistance of a large language model (LLM). The article has been vetted and edited by the Investors Alley editorial team. Tim Plaehn wrote the investment analysis.
Elon's Chasing The Biggest Deal Ever. Here's How To Get Paid Monthly From Tesla
Elon Musk says Tesla and SpaceX have formed committees to explore a merger, which would be the largest corporate tie-up of all time. But Tesla shareholders still haven't collected a cent in dividends. An upgraded Tesla, a new kind of fund built on Tesla's stock, paid $452 in a single month on a $5,000 stake. You give up some upside for the cash. Tim Plaehn shows you how. See how the upgraded Tesla pays monthly.
