Background of $600 Billion Market Cap Loss in U.S. Mid-Cap Shale Stocks

SM Energy Company (NYSE: SM) shares plunged 6.19% on March 31 on the New York Stock Exchange, closing at $29.25 (approximately KRW 45,000). Its market capitalization fell to about $6.97 billion (roughly KRW 10.7 trillion), erasing around $406 million (about KRW 620 billion) in a single day, with trading volume exceeding 4.45 million shares.

At the end of March, SM Energy released its 2026 business outlook, outlining a strategy to maximize free cash flow and detailing its production plans. The company has accelerated its financial restructuring, most recently issuing $1 billion of bonds due in 2034 to refinance higher-rate debt maturing in 2028. Earlier, it sold its assets in Texas’s Maverick Basin for $950 million (around KRW 1.4 trillion) and is pursuing a $12.8 billion (approximately KRW 20 trillion) merger with Civitas Resources, executing both portfolio optimization and large-scale deals in parallel.

Headquartered in Denver, SM Energy is an independent U.S. oil and gas exploration and production company focused on shale oil and gas in the Permian Basin and South Texas. Once the merger with Civitas is complete, SM Energy is poised to become a top-tier independent shale player in the U.S., holding extensive acreage across the Permian and DJ Basins.