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Energy

Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations

61 investable US stocks · data to Saturday, October 24, 2026

Acquirer's Multiple percentile today36th percentile
Cheaper than in 66% of quarters since 1999Its usual range since 1999 is the 24th to 70th percentile (the middle 80% of quarters), with a median of the 51st. Lower is cheaper: the 10th percentile is cheaper than 90% of the investable US market; the 50th is the middle.

Is it cheap because returns are depressed?

The industry is in its usual range on the multiple, and returns on assets are in their usual range. Free cash flow yield is high (higher than in 85% of quarters). A low multiple can be warranted when returns on assets are low, and a high one when they are high, so the multiple reads best next to returns and free cash flow, each against the industry's own history.

Over- or under-earning?

Earning about normally

Return on assets ranks at the 62nd percentile of investable US stocks, against a median of the 50th and a low of the 19th since 1999. That is close to its usual level, so today's multiple is about right on a normalized basis. If earnings normalize, the multiple would likely rise: from the 36th percentile today (cheaper than 64% of investable US stocks) to around the 58th (dearer than 58% of investable US stocks), judging by where it sat in past quarters when returns were at their usual level. If returns fell to their low, it would be around the 77th (dearer than 77% of investable US stocks).

PercentileTodayReturns normalReturns at low
Return on assets (higher is better)62nd50th (median)19th (low)
Acquirer's Multiple (lower is cheaper)36th58th77th
Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations's return on assets as a percentile, quarterly since 1999. The shaded band is its usual range; the dashed line its median.
025507510020002005201020152020202562▲ better

Percentiles among investable US stocks. Return on assets is operating income over total assets, trailing 12 months. The last two columns show where it sat in past quarters when returns were within 7.5 points of their median (34 quarters) and of their low (11). The past, not a forecast.

Against its own history

Each chart is the industry's median stock as a percentile of all investable US stocks, quarterly since 1999. For the Acquirer's Multiple and debt to equity, lower is better. The shaded band is its usual range (the middle 80% of quarters); the dashed line is its long-run median; the dot is today. Green shading marks the better end of each scale and red the worse, and today's dot takes the colour of where it sits.

Acquirer's MultipleUsual rangePercentile of enterprise value ÷ operating income: lower is cheaper. Cheaper than in 66% of quarters since 1999.
025507510020002005201020152020202536▼ better
Free cash flow yieldHigher than usualPercentile of free cash flow yield: higher is a bigger yield. Higher than in 85% of quarters since 1999.
025507510020002005201020152020202564▲ better
Shareholder yieldHigher than usualDividends plus buybacks, as a percentile: higher is a bigger yield. Higher than in 77% of quarters since 1999.
025507510020002005201020152020202554▲ better
Dividend yieldHigher than usualPercentile of dividend yield: higher is a bigger yield. Higher than in 83% of quarters since 1999.
025507510020002005201020152020202561▲ better
Return on assets, 5-yrUsual rangePercentile of five-year return on assets: higher is better. Higher than in 65% of quarters since 1999.
025507510020002005201020152020202562▲ better
Debt to equityLess debt than usualPercentile of debt to equity: lower is less debt. Less indebted than in 74% of quarters since 1999.
025507510020002005201020152020202546▼ better
Company sizeUsual rangePercentile of market cap: higher is larger. Smaller than in 56% of quarters since 1999.
025507510020002005201020152020202547

Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations stocks in the screens today

In today's screens, cheapest first. ● marks one of a screen's 30 tracked picks.

StockScreenAcquirer's MultipleFCF yieldShareholder yield

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Other Energy industries

Fossil Fuel Exploration and Production cheaper than 68%Midstream Energy cheaper than 57%Downstream Energy dearer than 50%Coal and Uranium Mining dearer than 96%

Quarterly since 1999 from point-in-time data. Each quarter, every investable US stock (price above $3, market cap above $75M, average daily trading above $850,000, no OTC, ADRs or MLPs) is placed in a percentile (0-100) against all the others on each metric. An industry's value is the median percentile of its stocks. Industries follow FactSet's RBICS classification. Percentiles describe the past; they are not investment advice or a forecast.