VNOM

Viper Energy is a Diamondback-affiliated mineral and royalty company that owns ~96,003 net royalty acres, ~35% operated by Diamondback. The royalty model is capital-light and cash-rich: FY2025 revenue jumped 57.6% to $1.35B and operating cash flow rose 69.8% to $1.05B, funding $328M of dividends (+49.8%) and a buyback authorization raised in February 2026 from $750M to $1.75B (~$1.2B remaining). Management also lifted the annual base dividend to $1.52 per Class A share, underscoring confidence in royalty cash flow.

The headline GAAP loss — net income of -$68.0M, operating income of -$140M and diluted EPS of -$0.48 — reflects a year of transformational deals rather than a broken business. Viper completed the ~$4.0B all-equity Sitio Acquisition, a $873M cash 2025 Drop Down, and other Permian purchases, with total assets ballooning 150% to $12.7B and equity up 163.7% to $4.45B. These deals carry purchase accounting, depletion and transaction effects that depress reported earnings even as cash generation accelerated. The February 2026 non-Permian divestiture for ~$617M, used to repay the Term Loan and revolver, sharpens the focus on the core Permian.