EQT Corp's $504 Million Trading Day Marks Third Straight Gain Despite Volume Decline
2min read On April 24, 2025, EQT Corp (EQT) saw a trading volume of $504 million, marking a 36.87% decrease from the previous day. The stock closed with a 0.14% increase, marking its third consecutive day of gains and a total increase of 2.39% over the past three days.
EQT Corp reported its strongest quarter in recent history during the first quarter of 2025, with production at the high end of guidance. The company's proactive collaboration between its operating teams resulted in a 300 million cubic feet per day surge in production, capitalizing on robust Appalachian pricing and driving core parental $0.16 tighter than expectations. This differentiated strategy of volumes during periods of oversupply and surge in production reprice environment underscores EQT's capital-efficient approach to maximizing value amid price volatility.
Operating expenses and capital spending during the quarter were below the low end of guidance as efficiencies and synergies continue to perform expectations. These stellar results drove more than $1 billion of free cash flow during the quarter with natural gas prices averaging just $3.60 per million Btu. This level of free cash flow generation is nearly 2 times consensus free cash flow estimates of the next closest natural gas producer and underscores the differentiated earnings power of EQT's low-cost integrated platform.
EQT announced its agreement for the highly accretive bolt-on acquisition of Olympus Energy's upstream and midstream assets for $1.8 billion. The purchase price equates to an attractive 3.4 times adjusted EBITDA multiple and a 15% unlevered free cash flow yield at strip pricing on average over the next three years. The Olympus assets comprise a vertically integrated contiguous 90,000 net acre position offsetting EQT's acreage in Southwest Appalachia, net production of approximately 500 million cubic feet per day. The assets are positioned adjacent to several proposed power generation projects in the region, providing potential strategic value upside through future gas supply deals.
EQT continues to capture synergies from the Equitrans acquisition with actions taken to date, resulting in approximately $360 million of annual savings, an increase of $85 million relative to the last update driven by CapEx savings and system and receipt optimization. The company has now captured 85% of guided total synergies and sees the potential for ongoing initiatives to drive upside beyond the original forecast. These synergy numbers do not include the upside optionality created through integration that has allowed EQT to beat its differential guidance three quarters in a row, which represents additional value created beyond the stated synergies.
With robust synergy capture, ongoing operational efficiencies, and strong well performance, EQT is raising its full-year production outlook by 25 Bcfe while simultaneously lowering the midpoint of 2025 capital spending guidance by $25 million, both of which are prior to the impact of Olympus. The updated 2025 volume guidance is roughly in line with the maintenance production prior to the sale of EQT's Northeast PA non-operated assets last year, which means efficiency gains, asset outperformance, and the repressuring of wells from the curtailment strategy have backfilled nearly half of Bcf a day of production in 2025, all while reducing capital spending and activity levels.
