# California Resources (CRC.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/CRC

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:27:43.208Z. Financial observations: FY2011–FY2025.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $53.15 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $114.11 per share, central $129.85 per share, high $150.79 per share. Buy at or below the central value $129.85 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:27:43.208Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 20.7% at the stated quote. About 20.7% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; US 10-year bond 5.1% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 4 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 4

- Years with a net loss: 2

- Operating margin variation: 0.67×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -0.01×

- FY2017: 0.03×

- FY2018: 0.37×

- FY2019: 0.32×

- FY2020: 0.00×

- FY2021: 0.35×

- FY2022: 0.42×

- FY2023: 0.32×

- FY2024: 0.22×

- FY2025: 0.24×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- Recent gross margin fell 4.1pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: 13.6%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 0.4%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 4.1 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 43.8%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 39.6%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 8.1%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 14.9%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -0.3%

- FY2017: 1.2%

- FY2018: 14.6%

- FY2019: 18.2%

- FY2020: 0.4%

- FY2021: 44.7%

- FY2022: 42.0%

- FY2023: 28.9%

- FY2024: 10.8%

- FY2025: 12.6%

### economics: pass

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 1.38×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $3.4B

- Net income, five-year total: $2.4B

- Return on incremental invested capital: >100%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -0.2 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: -0.7 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 4.4%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: 1.11×

- FY2022: 1.44×

- FY2023: 1.15×

- FY2024: 1.59×

- FY2025: 1.86×

### management: pass

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 1.2% vs 12.6%

- Per-share earnings: -6.26 to 4.62 (three-year endpoint medians)

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 8.6%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 1.0%

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 8.6%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 1.0%

- Per-share value change: $10.88

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: -$6.26

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $4.62

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): -0.26

- Average buyback yield: 5.3%

- Buyback history: 6 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: No

- Acquisition spending: $0

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $4.6B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 1.2%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 12.6%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $6.91

- FY2017: -$6.26

- FY2018: $6.92

- FY2019: -$0.57

- FY2020: $22.59

- FY2021: $7.37

- FY2022: $6.75

- FY2023: $7.78

- FY2024: $4.62

- FY2025: $4.15

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -6.8%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.80×

- Restructuring years, last five: 2

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 0.0%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 2.38×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.00×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 2.3%

- FY2017: -8.3%

- FY2018: -1.9%

- FY2019: -10.1%

- FY2020: 57.8%

- FY2021: -1.2%

- FY2022: -4.2%

- FY2023: -2.0%

- FY2024: -3.2%

- FY2025: -6.8%

## Holders

## Price story

Down 23% since Mar 2026 · "CRC Q2 Earnings Miss on Takeaway Constraints, Revenues Beat" (finance.yahoo.com, Aug 2026) · sales +21.9%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:34.082Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to shrink 10.4% a year for ten years

- 2025-08-06: California Resources earnings beat by $0.20, revenue topped estimates ([investing.com](https://www.investing.com/news/earnings/california-resources-earnings-beat-by-020-revenue-topped-estimates-4171780))

- 2026-03-30: Surging Earnings Estimates Signal Upside for California Resources (CRC) Stock ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/surging-earnings-estimates-signal-upside-162002335.html))

- 2026-05-04: Is Softer Earnings Guidance Quietly Recasting CRC’s Capital Allocation Narrative Despite Vanguard’s Passive Stake? ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/softer-earnings-guidance-quietly-recasting-001630087.html))

- 2026-08-14: CRC Q2 Earnings Miss on Takeaway Constraints, Revenues Beat ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/crc-q2-earnings-miss-takeaway-143400058.html))

### Sales · FY2024–2025

sales +21.9%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1609253/000160925326000051/crc-20251231.htm; observed 2026-03-02.

- FY2016: $1.8B 

- FY2017: $2.1B 

- FY2018: $3.1B 

- FY2019: $2.7B 

- FY2020: $1.6B 

- FY2021: $2.6B 

- FY2022: $3.3B 

- FY2023: $2.8B 

- FY2024: $3.0B 

- FY2025: $3.6B 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 39.6%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1609253/000160925326000051/crc-20251231.htm; observed 2026-03-02.

- FY2016: 21.2% 

- FY2017: 30.0% 

- FY2018: 51.8% 

- FY2019: 46.9% 

- FY2020: 25.0% 

- FY2021: 48.6% 

- FY2022: 53.3% 

- FY2023: 47.1% 

- FY2024: 40.6% 

- FY2025: 39.6% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in oil & gas e&p; annual sales are USD 3.6 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1609253/000160925326000051/crc-20251231.htm (filed 2026-03-02); FY2025: revenue 3604000000; grossProfit 1428000000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); CRC.US: California Resources Corporation operates as an independent energy and carbon management company in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Oil and Natural Gas, and Carbon Management. It explores, develops, and produces crude oil, oil condensate, natural gas liquids and natural gas to california refineries, marketers, and other purchasers. The company also provides Carbon TerraVault which builds, installs, operates, and maintains CO2 capture equipment, transportation assets, and storage facilities. In addition, it owns and operates power generation facilities, as well as smaller gas-fired power plants used to generate power for oil and natural gas operations. The company was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Long Beach, California.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 39.6% to 47.1% during 2023–25; it earns 13.6% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 47.1%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 40.6%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1609253/000160925326000051/crc-20251231.htm (filed 2026-03-02); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 39.6%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,-0.0029793573100659713],[2017,0.012118092036142046],[2018,0.14626756026319712],[2019,0.18168859176191504],[2020,0.004002287021154946],[2021,0.44653465346534654],[2022,0.42015350642136745],[2023,0.28893508851149863],[2024,0.1080820444345536],[2025,0.12570651895580298]]; median 0.13598703960950004. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 8 of 10 years; bought back USD 377 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2016: growth capex 0; upkeep 75000000; owner earnings 766000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2018: growth capex 145000000; upkeep 545000000; owner earnings 328000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.4420731707317073.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 455000000; owner earnings 31000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 47000000; owner earnings 2197000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2021: growth capex 0; upkeep 194000000; owner earnings 681000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2022: growth capex 0; upkeep 12000000; owner earnings 753000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2023: growth capex 0; upkeep 185000000; owner earnings 650000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 255000000; owner earnings 596000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1609253/000160925326000051/crc-20251231.htm (filed 2026-03-02); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 322000000; owner earnings 675000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); Dividend observations: [[2016,0],[2017,0],[2018,2823000000],[2019,2330000000],[2020,445000000],[2021,14000000],[2022,59000000],[2023,81000000],[2024,113000000],[2025,136000000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1609253/000160925326000051/crc-20251231.htm (filed 2026-03-02); FY2025: cash repurchases 377000000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 4.9% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); CRC.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 4.928 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits shrink 10.4% yearly over ten years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate -0.15829826828779764. Price 53.15; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2015 owner earnings/share -76.81462140992167 → FY2025 7.723112128146453. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2020-10: $13.40 per share

- 2020-11: $21.82 per share

- 2020-12: $23.59 per share

- 2021-01: $23.09 per share

- 2021-02: $26.28 per share

- 2021-03: $24.06 per share

- 2021-04: $23.70 per share

- 2021-05: $29.01 per share

- 2021-06: $30.14 per share

- 2021-07: $28.11 per share

- 2021-08: $34.23 per share

- 2021-09: $41.00 per share

- 2021-10: $46.13 per share

- 2021-11: $39.07 per share

- 2021-12: $42.71 per share

- 2022-01: $42.62 per share

- 2022-02: $41.23 per share

- 2022-03: $44.73 per share

- 2022-04: $40.21 per share

- 2022-05: $43.67 per share

- 2022-06: $38.50 per share

- 2022-07: $44.86 per share

- 2022-08: $49.96 per share

- 2022-09: $38.43 per share

- 2022-10: $45.11 per share

- 2022-11: $45.38 per share

- 2022-12: $43.51 per share

- 2023-01: $42.73 per share

- 2023-02: $42.20 per share

- 2023-03: $38.50 per share

- 2023-04: $40.50 per share

- 2023-05: $37.54 per share

- 2023-06: $45.29 per share

- 2023-07: $53.35 per share

- 2023-08: $55.84 per share

- 2023-09: $56.01 per share

- 2023-10: $52.59 per share

- 2023-11: $51.21 per share

- 2023-12: $54.68 per share

- 2024-01: $47.68 per share

- 2024-02: $52.17 per share

- 2024-03: $55.10 per share

- 2024-04: $52.86 per share

- 2024-05: $47.35 per share

- 2024-06: $53.22 per share

- 2024-07: $51.44 per share

- 2024-08: $52.47 per share

- 2024-09: $52.47 per share

- 2024-10: $51.97 per share

- 2024-11: $59.16 per share

- 2024-12: $51.89 per share

- 2025-01: $49.20 per share

- 2025-02: $44.62 per share

- 2025-03: $43.97 per share

- 2025-04: $34.51 per share

- 2025-05: $44.17 per share

- 2025-06: $45.67 per share

- 2025-07: $48.18 per share

- 2025-08: $49.68 per share

- 2025-09: $53.18 per share

- 2025-10: $47.17 per share

- 2025-11: $47.78 per share

- 2025-12: $44.71 per share

- 2026-01: $53.50 per share

- 2026-02: $58.84 per share

- 2026-03: $69.22 per share

- 2026-04: $68.26 per share

- 2026-05: $59.29 per share

- 2026-06: $52.87 per share

- 2026-07: $52.62 per share

- 2026-08: $53.03 per share

- 2026-09: $50.80 per share

- 2026-10: $53.15 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2019: low $6.92 per share, central $7.87 per share, high $9.14 per share

- FY2020: low $22.60 per share, central $25.72 per share, high $29.87 per share

- FY2021: low $39.23 per share, central $44.22 per share, high $50.85 per share

- FY2022: low $109.18 per share, central $123.80 per share, high $143.27 per share

- FY2023: low $104.08 per share, central $117.60 per share, high $135.59 per share

- FY2024: low $95.61 per share, central $108.27 per share, high $125.11 per share

- FY2025: low $104.83 per share, central $119.19 per share, high $138.31 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1609253/000160925326000051/crc-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-03-02.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.