Matador Resources (NYSE:MTDR) outlined its strategy for production growth, free-cash-flow generation and expansion of its Delaware Basin footprint during a presentation at the Three Part Advisors Chicago conference.
Senior Vice President of Investor Relations Mac Schmitz said the company remains founder-led, with founder and Chief Executive Officer Joe Foran still running the business. Foran launched the current Matador with $6 million in initial capital after selling a prior company in 2003, Schmitz said. Matador’s asset value is now approaching or exceeding $10 billion, according to the presentation.
Delaware Basin Inventory and Acreage Growth
Vice President of Land Hannah Rhodes said Matador continues to expand its inventory through a combination of organic leasing, acreage trades, swaps and acquisitions. She said the company added 17,000 net acres through its “ground game” during the prior year and is continuing that effort.
Rhodes highlighted acreage acquired through a Bureau of Land Management lease sale in May, along with the announced Paloma and Ridge Runner transactions. She said the BLM leases were contiguous with Matador’s existing position, allowing the company to extend laterals, and carried royalty interests of 7.5% or 12.5%, compared with an average net revenue interest of roughly 75% in the basin.
The acquired acreage includes multiple targeted formations, she said, while the Ridge Runner position added exposure to the Woodford formation. Matador has also identified additional opportunities in formations including the Second Bone Spring Carbonate.
“We are very happy and very proud of our inventory base,” Rhodes said, adding that the company has replenished locations drilled in prior years through land acquisitions and geological work. The company has not yet assigned reserves to the Woodford formation, according to Chief Financial Officer Chris Calvert.
Free Cash Flow, Production and Capital Efficiency
Calvert said Matador has focused on free-cash-flow generation since the industry reset following the COVID-19 pandemic. In its latest quarterly release, the company projected approximately $900 million of free cash flow for 2026 while continuing to increase production.
Matador reported historical oil-production growth at a 21% compound annual growth rate since 2021, with a similar growth rate for barrels of oil equivalent production, Calvert said. He added that the company has reduced drilling and completion investment costs per lateral foot by 12% from 2024 levels, aided by drilling and completion work that is 10% to 15% faster year over year.
The company’s capital-return priorities have included a fixed dividend, debt repayment and opportunistic share repurchases. Calvert said Matador has raised its dividend seven times over five years and has repurchased approximately 1.8 million shares since April 2025 at an average price in the low-$40 range.
In response to a question about future production, Schmitz said Matador expects to remain a relative grower compared with peers, though at a measured pace. Calvert said the company had planned for roughly 3% production growth and about $500 million in free cash flow even when oil prices were in the mid-$50s to low-$60s earlier in the year.
He said the company did not add rigs to pursue higher prices following the Iranian conflict and instead focused on ancillary work intended to maximize production around the margins. Matador’s strategy is “profitable growth at a measured pace,” he said.
Integrated Midstream Business
Calvert also emphasized the value of Matador’s integrated midstream operations. The company owns 51% of San Mateo Midstream, a joint venture that provides gas gathering and processing, water gathering and disposal, and oil gathering services.
Matador initially built its own gas-processing infrastructure after finding third-party service and pricing options inadequate, Calvert said. The company’s first West Texas plant had 60 million cubic feet per day of capacity. The system has since expanded to 720 million cubic feet per day, and the Cardinal acquisition made San Mateo the largest privately held gas gatherer and processor in the Northern Delaware Basin, according to Calvert.
Matador expects the combination of San Mateo and its wholly owned midstream assets to generate nearly $400 million of EBITDA in 2026. Calvert said management believes the business is not fully reflected in Matador’s valuation and is evaluating potential ways to unlock value, including debt at the entity level or a possible initial public offering.
Calvert said the company also expects the Matterhorn Express Pipeline to allow Matador to move all of its gas away from the Waha hub, with sales expected at Houston Ship Channel and Henry Hub pricing. Matador currently produces more than half a billion cubic feet of gas per day, he said.
Management Alignment and Succession
Schmitz said Foran is Matador’s largest individual shareholder and that management has recorded 86 stock purchases and no sales by Form 4 filers. More than 95% of employees participate in the company’s employee stock purchase program, he said.
Asked about CEO succession planning, Calvert said Matador has not publicly disclosed a succession plan. He said Foran remains active in the business and that the company has a management team with longstanding experience at Matador, as well as a diverse board.
About Matador Resources (NYSE:MTDR)
Matador Resources Company is an independent energy firm primarily engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and natural gas. The company focuses on upstream operations, utilizing horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques to unlock hydrocarbons from key reservoirs. Its asset base includes both operated and non?operated positions, with a particular emphasis on the Permian Basin, one of the most prolific oil-producing regions in North America.
Matador’s core operations are concentrated in the Delaware Basin segment of the Permian Basin, where it holds substantial acreage in both Reeves and Culberson counties in West Texas and Eddy and Lea counties in New Mexico.
