穆迪因债务上升将 Matador Resources 展望由正面调至稳定并下调流动性评级

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Investing.com - Moody’s Ratings changed Matador Resources Company’s outlook to stable from positive on Thursday and affirmed its Ba3 Corporate Family Rating, Ba3-PD Probability of Default Rating and B1 senior unsecured notes rating. The ratings firm downgraded Matador’s Speculative Grade Liquidity rating to SGL-2 from SGL-1.
The outlook change reflects Matador’s substantially higher debt following several acquisitions announced since late May. The company announced three sizable acquisitions and one smaller transaction that together will push leverage well above prior expectations. These include the $1.14 billion purchase in May of 5,154 undeveloped Delaware Basin acres through the Bureau of Land Management lease sale, the June agreement to acquire Cardinal Midstream Partners, LLC for $752 million, and Tuesday’s announced $1.275 billion acquisition of Paloma Permian LLC and the roughly $200 million purchase of undeveloped Woodford Shale acreage in the Delaware Basin from Ridge Runner Resources II, LLC.
Total consolidated debt could potentially increase by 75% since Moody’s changed the rating outlook to positive in April and approach $6.4 billion if Matador completes the latest acquisitions with debt later this year. Funding these transactions primarily with debt signals management’s willingness to stretch the balance sheet to expand Matador’s drilling inventory. The acquired assets are expected to provide limited near-term cash flow relative to Matador’s existing operations, increasing execution risk as the company develops them and works to realize their full value.
Management stated that debt reduction remains a top priority and plans to bring net leverage closer to its long-term target of about 1x within 12-18 months. Restoring balance sheet strength to pre-acquisition levels will depend on oil prices remaining high through 2027. If benchmark WTI falls below $60 per barrel, the company would face difficulty reducing debt.
Moody’s estimates Matador had about $1.8 billion of availability under its revolving facility as of June 30, 2026, after second-quarter payments for the BLM lease acquisition. The revolver matures in March 2029, and Matador has no near-term debt maturities before 2032. The firm expects Matador to generate modest free cash flow in 2026, assuming $70 WTI for the rest of the year and existing hedges covering roughly 50% of projected oil production.
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