Skip to main content
Homepage
OLDER Analysis Report
Aug 26, 2026
43 days ago · 100% complete
This report is 43 days old — newer filings and price moves since then are not reflected.
For AI assistants & researchers — machine-readable summary of this page

What this page is: Delvantic's full research page for Venture Global Inc. (VG) — AI-driven forensic equity research: mechanical valuation models (DCF, EPV, anchored-PE, scenario) plus three independent AI lenses (Quality / Value / Sentiment). Everything below is rendered server-side; you are not missing content that requires JavaScript. All scores are predictions and research opinions, not financial advice.

Our current read (analysis of 2026-10-08): Designation Low · Gem Score -64 (−100…+100 Quality+Value blend) · Quality -75 · Value -57 · Sentiment 31 (timing only, not weighted) · Composite fair value $-0.28 vs $14.07 at analysis

Page map (sections in order; each card carries a stable reference-name attribute you can cite):

  • profile-header / price-overview — company profile, live quote, market cap
  • extended-analysis — the core: three AI lens reads with findings, scores, and the analyst memo
  • future-predictions — our forward price-band predictions
  • market-narrative / ai-findings / gpt-critique — narrative context, cross-model findings, and an adversarial critique of our own analysis (near the end of the document)
  • Members-only sections (render as login gates for anonymous readers): price-history, income-trend, key-metrics, financials (statement tables), insider-trading. The analysis above is public; the raw data tables require a free account.

More for machine readers: site briefing at /llms.txt · any ticker resolves at delvantic.com/stock/TICKER · raw inputs are public-company filings and market data (via licensed data feeds); every model, score, lens read, and prediction on this page is Delvantic's own analysis.

Venture Global Inc.

VG NYSE
Energy · Oil & Gas Midstream
Arlington, VA 22209, United States ventureglobal.com Updated Aug 25, 6:00am
Price
$14.39
Market Cap
$36.0B
Employees
2,000
Beta
—
Avg Volume
15,091,046
Last Dividend
$0.07
CEO
Mr. Michael A. Sabel

Venture Global Inc. is an energy infrastructure company focused on the production and export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States. The company sources natural gas from resource-rich North American basins and processes it into LNG for global customers, supporting power generation, industrial use, and energy security needs worldwide. Venture Global Inc. operates through four primary segments: the Calcasieu project, Plaquemines project, CP2 project, and a sales and shipping segment that manages commercial offtake and logistics. These projects are designed to provide long-term LNG supply to utilities, energy companies, and large industrial buyers. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia and founded in 2023, Venture Global Inc. plays a significant role in the global natural gas value chain by linking U.S. natural gas production with international demand through large-scale liquefaction and export capabilities.

Runs with full report Generated: Aug 25, 2026 6:32am
Price Overview
Price at report time
$14.07
as of Aug 26, 12:00am (43d ago)
Change · Aug 26
-0.32 (-2.22%)
Day Range
$13.90 – $14.22
52-Week Range
$5.72 – $17.62
50-Day MA
$12.79
200-Day MA
$11.12
Volume
13,088,732.00
Right now · live
Log in to get the live feed
Members see the real-time price and the move since this report (over 43d).
Share Structure
Outstanding 2,482,568,581.00
Float 521,644,373.00
Free Float 21.0%
Low free float — 21.0% of shares trade freely, ~79% held by insiders/institutions
Below average liquidity. Large orders can move the price significantly. Insiders or strategic holders control the majority — watch for lockup expirations or secondary offerings.
Price History (1 Year)
Last updated: Aug 26, 2026 12:17am (43d ago)
Revenue & Net Income Trend
The directional story — useful even when net income is negative.
Last updated: Aug 26, 2026 12:17am (43d ago)
Revenue
The top line — total sales before any costs or taxes are subtracted. A measure of how much business the company is doing.
Net Income
The bottom line — profit left after subtracting all expenses, interest, and taxes from revenue. Reflects accounting profitability, but includes non-cash items like depreciation, so it isn't the same as cash earned.
Operating Cash Flow
The real cash generated by the day-to-day business — selling products, paying suppliers, collecting from customers. Calculated from net income by adding back non-cash items and adjusting for timing (unpaid bills, unsold inventory). When OCF consistently lags net income, the reported profit may not be converting to real money.
Period Revenue Net Income Net Margin YoY/QoQ
Key Metrics
TD Twelve Data statement HEX SEC filing
Industry comparison last run: Aug 26, 2026 12:07am
P/E · trailing (TTM) (Price per dollar of earnings over the past year — not a run-rate or forward P/E)
HEX
Stock Price / EPS (Diluted)
16.73
Stock Price: $14.39
EPS (Diluted): 0.86
P/B Ratio (Price vs net asset value)
HEX
Stock Price / Book Value Per Share
3.16
Stock Price: $14.39
Total Equity: $12.00B
Shares: 2,635,000,000
EV/EBITDA (Total value vs operating profit)
HEX
Enterprise Value / EBITDA
10.95
Market Cap: $35.98B
Total Debt: $34.21B
Cash: $2.36B
EBITDA: $6.10B
Enterprise Value (Takeover price (cap + debt - cash))
HEX
Market Cap + Total Debt - Cash
$66.8B
Market Cap: $35.98B
Total Debt: $34.21B
Cash: $2.36B
Gross Margin (Revenue left after direct costs)
HEX
Gross Profit / Revenue
57.0%
Gross Profit: $7.85B
Revenue: $13.77B
Operating Margin (Revenue left after all operations)
HEX
Operating Income / Revenue
37.4%
Operating Income: $5.16B
Revenue: $13.77B
Net Margin (Revenue left as actual profit)
HEX
Net Income / Revenue
19.8%
Net Income: $2.73B
Revenue: $13.77B
ROE (Profit from shareholder equity)
HEX
Net Income / Total Equity
22.8%
Net Income: $2.73B
Total Equity: $12.00B
ROIC (Profit from all invested capital)
HEX
NOPAT / Invested Capital
9.6%
Operating Income: $5.16B
Tax Rate: 18.7%
Equity: $12.00B
Total Debt: $34.21B
Cash: $2.36B
Current Ratio (Can it pay short-term bills)
HEX
Current Assets / Current Liabilities
0.93
Current Assets: $4.04B
Current Liabilities: $4.34B
Debt/Equity (Leverage — debt vs equity)
HEX
Total Debt / Total Equity
2.85
Short-Term Debt: $812.00M
Long-Term Debt: $33.39B
Total Debt: $34.21B
Total Equity: $12.00B
Rev/Share (Top-line per share)
HEX
Revenue / Shares Outstanding
$5.23
Revenue: $13.77B
Shares: 2,635,000,000
Book Value/Share (Net assets per share)
HEX
(Total Assets - Total Liabilities) / Shares
$4.55
Total Equity: $12.00B
Shares: 2,635,000,000
FCF/Share (Real cash generated per share)
HEX
(Operating Cash Flow + CapEx) / Shares
$-2.58
Operating CF: $6.57B
CapEx: -$13.37B
Shares: 2,635,000,000
CapEx is negative (outflow) — added to OCF to get FCF
Div Yield (Annual income from holding)
TD
Last Annual Dividend / Stock Price
0.5%
Last Dividend: $0.07
Stock Price: $14.39
Payout Ratio (Earnings paid out as dividends)
HEX
Dividends Paid / Net Income
17.0%
Dividends Paid: -$465.00M
Net Income: $2.73B
Industry Benchmarks
Last run: Aug 26, 2026 12:07am
Compares VG against LLM-researched typical ranges for its industry. One research call per industry, cached indefinitely — every stock in the same industry reuses the same baseline.
Income Statement (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 26, 2026 12:17am (43d ago)
Metric 2023 2024 2025
Revenue $7.9B $5.0B $13.8B
Cost of Revenue $1.7B $1.4B $5.9B
Gross Profit $6.2B $3.6B $7.8B
Operating Expenses $1.4B $1.9B $2.7B
Operating Income $4.9B $1.8B $5.2B
Net Income $3.6B $1.7B $2.7B
EBITDA $5.1B $2.1B $6.1B
EPS $1.30 $0.63 $0.93
EPS (Diluted) $1.25 $0.57 $0.86
Balance Sheet (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 26, 2026 12:00am (43d ago)
Metric 2024 2025
Cash & Equivalents $3.6B $2.4B
Total Current Assets $4.6B $4.0B
Total Assets $43.5B $53.4B
Current Liabilities $3.5B $4.3B
Long-Term Debt $29.1B $33.4B
Total Liabilities $35.6B $41.5B
Total Equity $7.9B $12.0B
Retained Earnings $2.6B $4.7B
Cash Flow (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 26, 2026 12:17am (43d ago)
Metric 2023 2024 2025
Operating Cash Flow $4.6B $2.1B $6.6B
Capital Expenditure -$8.1B -$13.7B -$13.4B
Free Cash Flow -$3.5B -$11.6B -$6.8B
Acquisitions (net) — — —
Net Debt Issued / (Repaid) -$5.9B -$905.0M -$11.1B
Dividends Paid -$164.0M -$139.0M -$465.0M
Stock Buybacks — — —
Net Change in Cash $3.5B -$1.3B -$1.2B
Growth Trends (YoY %)
Last updated: Aug 26, 2026 12:17am (43d ago)
Metric 2024 2025
Revenue Growth -37.0% +176.9%
Gross Profit Growth -41.7% +116.8%
Operating Income Growth -63.6% +192.5%
Net Income Growth -51.7% +56.5%
EBITDA Growth -59.3% +192.4%
Dividend History (Last 20)
Last updated: Aug 23, 2026 8:28am (45d ago)
Date Dividend Declaration Record Payment
2026-06-15 $0.02 — — —
2026-03-16 $0.02 — — —
2025-12-15 $0.02 — — —
2025-09-19 $0.02 — — —
2025-06-10 $0.02 — — —
2025-03-10 $0.02 — — —
0Company Classification 1Industry Landscape 2Company Momentum 3Forward Projection 4aDCF Valuation 4bEarnings Power Value 4cAnchored PE 4dReverse DCF 4eRevenue-Based DCF 4fAnchored P/S 4gScenario Analysis 4hDividend Discount Model 4iBook Value Analysis 4jInsider Activity 4fCash Flow Quality 4gDebt Maturity Risk 4hMacro Environment 4iSector Intelligence 4jRevenue Confidence 4kSensitivity Analysis 4lSector Demand Cycle 5AI Investigation 5bThesis Evaluation 6Valuation Synthesis
computed not applicable errored not yet run 14 computed · 5 not applicable · 1 errored · 4 not yet run
Risk : Reward — upside vs downside from this company's own quarters
Computed 2026-09-18 02:45
Why there is no ratio: No modeled downside: even a −1σ run of quarters prices above today (stress fair value $25.55 vs $14.07). The ratio is undefined — that is the best case, not a missing one.
CaseGrowthMarginFair valuevs price ($14.07)
Bull — recovery +58% 31.3% $75.77 +439%
Base — stabilizes +39% 27.2% $40.78 +190%
Bear — keeps slipping +19% 23.1% $20.59 +46%
Stress — last quarter repeats +59% 15.0% $39.21 +179%
Upside — a +1σ run of quarters (v2) +50% 24.6% $49.70 +253%
Stress — a −1σ run of quarters (v2) +37% 17.2% $25.55 +82%
The next quarters keep the trajectory of the worst recent matched quarter (ending 2026-03-31) — growth stays at 58.9% and margins bend by the same profit-vs-revenue ratio (×0.67). Stress is a trajectory, not a prediction — it answers "what if the ship's current heading simply continues," which history says is the case to respect.
Why this is appearing: this company files quarterly, so its recent trajectory could be measured rather than assumed — the engine matched Jun 2026, Mar 2026 against the same quarters one year earlier and found revenue +53.1% · operating income +57.6% · net income +105.8% year-over-year. That measured heading is what the stress case extends forward. Of those, the stress case extends the worst matched quarter — the one ending Mar 31, 2026 (revenue +58.9%, operating income +6.6% YoY) — not the average. Data measured through Jun 30, 2026 — this card recalculates automatically when the next quarterly filing is ingested. Companies without quarterly filings (many foreign listings) never show this card: with no measured trajectory, there is nothing honest to repeat.
Narrative Economics
The story the market is telling about this stock — the intangible X-factor (founder mythology, cult dynamics, TAM-of-imagination) that moves price beyond what cash flows alone explain. After Shiller, Narrative Economics.
No narrative profile yet for VG — it's generated by the pipeline (market-narrative step).
Growth Outlook
Analyzed 2026-08-26 00:26

The question every valuation on this page silently assumes: is this company likely to grow? Judged forward — the business, its category, the world — against what's already printed.

Growing Physical capacity additions — Plaquemines ramping toward full rates and CP2 under construction — make volume-driven growth close to mechanical through 2027, even as per-unit realized margins compress from spot-heavy commissioning economics toward lower fixed liquefaction fees. conf 7/10
Share gain Category growing · Category (LNG/midstream) is in a confirmed boom with ~27% median recent growth; VG is compounding roughly 2x that off new liquefaction capacity rather than off tariff escalators or acquisitions. It is not merely riding the tide — it is adding physical share of US export capacity.
Next 2 quarters
Growing
Additional Plaquemines trains reaching service plus continued commissioning cargoes make sequential volume gains near-mechanical; comps get harder (YoY already decelerating from +177% toward +53%) but stay clearly positive.
↑ above expectations
Year 1
Growing
Full-year revenue and EBITDA rise on a larger average operating fleet regardless of price; the swing factor is how much of the mix is contracted fee versus spot, and interest/depreciation from newly capitalized trains eating into net income growth.
≈ inline with expectations
Years 2–3
Growing
CP2 plus full Plaquemines utilization means installed capacity keeps stepping up, so earnings power grows in absolute terms. But the growth RATE decays as spot-heavy commissioning economics give way to fixed fees and as the global supply wave compresses the merchant leg — growth, not acceleration.
↓ below expectations
The creme: each rung's call measured against what's already printed (vs analyst estimates · vs guidance / FY consensus · vs price-implied growth) — expectations in print are already in the price, so only the variant margin can pay. Hover a rung's chip for the margin read.
Growth drivers
82 Plaquemines volume ramp (capacity, not demand, is the variable) — Matched-quarter YoY of +53% revenue / +58% operating income is being produced by new trains coming into service, not by price. Unlike most midstream names, VG's near-term growth is a construction/commissioning schedule rather than a demand forecast — the volumes are physically arriving and the offtake is largely pre-sold. This is the single most reliable growth mechanism in the file.
60 CP2 as a second, sequential capacity step — A third large project under construction extends the volume-growth runway past the Plaquemines ramp, so the 2-3 year rung does not depend on the same asset lapping itself. This is what converts a one-project ramp into a multi-year capacity compounding story — subject entirely to execution and permitting.
45 Category in genuine boom, and company outrunning it — Midstream category median recent growth is +27% with margins holding at the sector level and capital being committed broadly; VG is printing roughly double that. Being the fastest grower inside an expanding category means the growth is not a share-steal that invites retaliation — it is new capacity meeting new demand (post-2022 European regasification build-out plus Asian industrial substitution).
38 Contracted offtake underpins the base — Long-term SPAs at fixed liquefaction fees give a floor under revenue as spot exposure shrinks — margin per unit falls but the volume-times-fee base becomes far more predictable, which supports the Holding/Growing floor rather than a cliff if global spreads compress.
Growth risks
70 Spot-spread compression as commissioning cargoes convert to contract — The outsized earnings prints (net income +106%, recent earnings YoY volatility, one -35% EPS miss) reflect commissioning cargoes sold into spot LNG. As trains hand over to long-term buyers, revenue per unit steps DOWN to contracted liquefaction fees, and a 2026-28 global supply wave pressures the spot leg further. Volumes up, realized margin down — earnings growth can decelerate sharply even while revenue grows.
53 Execution, commissioning-timing and contractual disputes — The entire thesis is a schedule. Slippage in train handover or CP2 first-LNG shifts earnings across years, and disputes with foundation offtakers over commissioning-period cargoes are a live, non-trivial liability that does not show up in the trajectory data.
45 Capex/leverage funded into a 4.7% ten-year — A multi-project build carries a very large capital program against a macro-headwind backdrop. Interest burden and any need for incremental financing sit directly between EBITDA growth and net income growth — the reason earnings CAGR is negative (-13%) despite a 32% revenue CAGR.
34 Industry-wide margin compression and low earnings visibility — Landscape shows operating margins down ~24pp and industry earnings CAGR -21% over three years, and the company's own revenue series is flagged low-confidence with volatility >1.0 and a decelerating quarterly trend. Growth is real but the shape of the earnings line is genuinely hard to forecast.
Post-2022 energy security repricing made US Gulf Coast LNG the marginal supplier to both Europe and Asia, and VG is one of the few operators actually adding trains into that gap. The offsetting world fact is that everyone else noticed: a large global liquefaction supply wave lands 2026-2028 (Qatari expansion plus multiple US projects), which should compress spot spreads even as absolute demand grows. That combination favors owners of contracted, low-cost capacity and punishes anyone whose earnings depend on spot arbitrage. VG sits on both sides of it — its volume growth is insulated, its price realization is not. Macro (10y at 4.7%, flat-ish curve) is a real cost-of-capital tax on a company still spending heavily on construction.
Growth position composite +13
ShrinkingStallingHoldingGrowingAccelerating
70Next 2 quarters · Growing
70Year 1 · Growing
70Years 2–3 · Growing
+13Composite (−100…+100)
A research prediction, not advice. Forward-graded: each rung is scored against the prints that follow it. Not an input to the GEM designation — track record first.
Claude Reading
Independent analyst synthesis · claude-opus-4-7 · generated 2026-08-26 00:16:47
Verdict Fairly valued around $14-16 with asymmetric optionality — models mis-framed this as mature or broken; it's a mid-ramp LNG platform where $18-20 is achievable on CP2 FID + Plaquemines ramp, $8-9 on spread normalization. Not a table-pound either way.

The raw quarterly trajectory is far more constructive than the synthesis lets on. Revenue has stepped from $926M (Q3'24) to $4.58B (Q2'26) — a near-5x expansion in seven quarters, with the last four quarters printing $3.10B → $3.33B → $4.45B → $4.60B → $4.58B. That's Plaquemines commissioning, not "collapsing margins." Net margin has bounced between 13.6% and 31% depending on cargo timing and mark-to-market on gas purchases; the Q1'26 dip to 13.6% is not deterioration, it's the well-known commodity spread compression quarter. TTM revenue is roughly $17.0B and TTM net income roughly $3.8B — against a $36B market cap, that's ~9.5x trailing earnings on an asset base still ramping. The synthesis DCF spitting out -$0.04 fair value is a model failure, not a signal; it's almost certainly extrapolating the -$6.8B 2025 FCF without normalizing for the $13.4B growth capex that terminates as projects commission. Discard that number.

Where I partially agree with the bears: the $34.2B debt stack against $12.0B equity (D/E 2.85x) and 0.93 current ratio is genuinely tight, and ROIC of 9.6% is thin relative to the leverage. If SPA-contracted volumes underperform, or if the Henry Hub–JKM/TTF arb compresses structurally (which is a real risk as Qatar's North Field expansion and US Gulf Coast peers add ~150 mtpa through 2028), the equity gets squeezed hard because interest expense doesn't flex. The insider activity is worse than the market-forces note implies in one sense and better in another: these are all option-exercise-and-sell pairs at 1:1 ratios, which is mechanical comp monetization, not panic selling — but the concentration in mid-August 2026 (~2.9M shares across four days) at these depressed prices suggests insiders don't see a near-term catalyst worth waiting for. That's a soft negative, not the "insider exodus" framing.

The prior models contradict each other in ways worth flagging. Rule-based says "mature earner" (wrong — this is mid-ramp infrastructure), pre-flight correctly says "high-growth capital-intensive," narrative layer calls it "turnaround-bet" (also wrong — nothing to turn around, it's a greenfield ramp), and thesis-eval frames it as "steady midstream." These are four different companies. The correct frame is: a partially-commissioned LNG export platform with ~2 years of capex-heavy ramp remaining, contracted offtake on a majority of nameplate, and equity that behaves like a levered call on TTF-HH spreads and CP2 FID. The market-forces "avoid" call leans on "collapsing margins" that aren't actually collapsing when you look at the sequence — 26.8% in Q4'25 and 31% in Q2'26 bracket the 13.6% Q1'26 dip. Cherry-picking one quarter to build a bear case is sloppy.

Contrarian case against my own read: LNG is cyclical, and 2026-2028 sees ~120+ mtpa of new global supply against maybe 60-70 mtpa of demand growth in a base case. If spot spreads normalize to $2-3/MMBtu from current elevated levels, VG's uncontracted volumes (which have been the earnings surprise driver) evaporate, and you're left with contracted margins of maybe $1.5-2B/year against $2B+ of interest expense — the equity math gets ugly fast. The stock at $14.39 is down materially from IPO highs near $25, so the market has already partially discounted this. My fair value on a normalized 2027 basis — $18-20B revenue at 20% sustainable net margin = $3.6-4B earnings, 10-12x multiple given leverage = $36-48B equity, or $14-19/share — brackets the current price. So the synthesis "overvalued" verdict is wrong in magnitude but not necessarily direction; I'd call this fairly valued with skewed upside if CP2 gets FID'd and Plaquemines Phase 2 ramps on schedule, and 40% downside if spreads normalize hard. I dissent from the synthesis's implied "sell" and from market-forces' "avoid" — this is a hold/small-position bet, not a short.

GPT Reading
Independent reading · gpt-5.4 · generated 2026-08-26 00:17:05
Verdict Slightly undervalued at $14.39 — the market is over-penalizing construction-phase free cash burn; fair value looks closer to $17-19 if current earnings and cash flow hold through capex normalization.

What jumps out first is that the “broken DCF / avoid” framing overstates the problem because it treats Venture Global like a normal corporate free-cash-flow equity when the business is plainly in a buildout trough. The raw operating numbers are too strong to dismiss. Revenue has gone from $4.97B in 2024 to $13.77B in 2025, and the last four quarters annualize to roughly $16.9B. Net income in those same last four quarters totals about $3.56B, which means the stock at a $35.98B market cap is trading around 10x trailing-quarter annualized earnings power, not some absurd speculative multiple. Even using the reported annual PE of 16.7x on 2025 earnings, that is not a heroic valuation for an LNG exporter with revenue still scaling sharply. Operating cash flow of $6.57B in 2025 also matters more than the headline -$6.80B free cash flow, because the negative FCF is explained by $13.37B of capex rather than by a business failing to convert earnings into cash.

The business is not “unprofitable growth”; it is profitable growth with ugly capital intensity. Quarterly results show some lumpiness, but the broad trend is favorable. Revenue stepped from $926M in 3Q24 to $1.52B in 4Q24, then to $2.89B, $3.10B, $3.33B, $4.45B, $4.60B, and $4.58B through 2Q26. That is a huge capacity ramp, and despite margin volatility the company is still earning real money: net margins were 17.9%, 15.3%, 16.5%, 26.8%, 13.6%, and 31.0% over the last six quarters after a messy 2024 transition. The right read is that this is not a mature toll-road midstream name and not a cash-incinerating concept stock either; it is a commissioning story. If capex normalizes as projects move from construction to operations, the equity can look cheap very quickly because the enterprise is already demonstrating multi-billion-dollar EBITDA and cash generation. EV/EBITDA around 10.9x is not obviously expensive for scarce LNG export infrastructure if the current earnings base proves durable and still has volume upside.

The balance sheet is the real issue, but even there I think the bears are directionally right and quantitatively too extreme. Debt of $34.21B against $12.00B of equity and just $2.36B of cash is aggressive, and a current ratio of 0.93 leaves little room for execution slippage. But this is exactly what project-heavy LNG developers look like before the assets fully season. I care more that annual operating income was $5.16B in 2025 and that earnings have remained positive through the ramp than I do about simplistic leverage screens. At $14.39, the market cap is only about 2.1x 2025 revenue and roughly 13x 2025 net income; neither suggests euphoria. The better way to frame the stock is that investors are paying a fair-to-modest price for a highly levered, hard-asset platform whose value will swing massively based on whether current revenue and margins represent a floor for a larger export base or a temporary peak.

The smartest bear case is that the recent income statement may flatter economics that are not stable enough to deserve even 10-13x earnings. Annual revenue actually fell from $7.90B in 2023 to $4.97B in 2024 before exploding to $13.77B in 2025, so this is not a clean compounding story. The 2024 net margin of 35% and 4Q24 margin of 65% also look too high for a normalized midstream-like business, while 1Q26 dropped back to 13.6% before rebounding to 31% in 2Q26. That volatility supports the criticism that reported earnings may be a noisy mix of commissioning effects, contract timing, and possibly unusually favorable spot-linked realizations rather than a stable run-rate. Add in the steady option-exercise-and-sale insider pattern, and a skeptic can reasonably argue that management is monetizing into a valuation that already assumes Plaquemines ramps smoothly and future projects avoid cost, timing, or regulatory trouble. If margins settle in the mid-teens while capex stays elevated, the equity could be worth materially less because the debt load leaves little cushion.

What would flip me bearish is evidence that the current revenue scale does not translate into sustained cash earnings once the ramp matures. Specifically, if quarterly revenue stalls around $4.5B but net margin stays stuck near low teens, or if operating cash flow fails to keep pace with income while capex remains above $10B annually into 2027, then today’s valuation is too high because deleveraging gets pushed out. I’d also change my mind if net debt rises further without a clear path to commissioning-driven FCF inflection. Conversely, if the next few quarters show revenue holding above $4.5B, annualized net income staying above $3.5B, and capex stepping down enough to move free cash flow toward breakeven, the stock should trade above here because the market will stop valuing it like a perpetual construction site.

Grok Reading
Independent reading · grok-4.5 · generated 2026-08-26 00:17:39
Verdict Fairly valued near $14 with limited upside until FCF turns; downside to $10–11 if Plaquemines ramp or spreads disappoint

The raw numbers show a company that has already crossed from project developer into commercial LNG exporter at scale. Annual revenue jumped from $4.97B in 2024 to $13.77B in 2025, with the last three reported quarters locked in a $4.45–4.60B run-rate—implying a $18B annualized pace if sustained. Operating cash flow of $6.57B against $5.16B of operating income confirms the core facilities are throwing off real cash once online; gross margin held at 57% and operating margin at 37.5% for the full year. That is not a pre-revenue story. The contradiction with several model outputs is stark: a composite fair value near zero or negative simply cannot reconcile with $2.73B of 2025 net income, 23% ROE, and an EV/EBITDA of 10.9x on assets that are already producing. Those models appear to treat mid-cycle construction capex as a permanent earnings destroyer rather than a finite build-out.

What the same data also make unavoidable is the balance-sheet and cash-conversion cost of that ramp. Free cash flow was –$6.80B on $13.37B of capex; net debt sits at roughly $32B against $12B of equity (D/E 2.85); the current ratio is 0.93. Quarterly net margins have swung from 65% to –32% to the mid-teens and back to 31% in the most recent period—evidence that realized LNG spreads, commissioning costs, and perhaps hedging or one-time items still dominate reported earnings quality. Insider activity over the last two months is almost entirely option exercise followed by immediate sale of the resulting shares (more than 3 million shares in the disclosed prints), which is consistent with liquidity-taking rather than incremental ownership. Revenue growth is decelerating at the quarterly level even while the absolute dollars remain large, and the 32% revenue CAGR is paired with a –13% earnings CAGR, underscoring that scale has not yet translated into cleaner bottom-line compounding.

The strongest case against a constructive read is precisely the leverage-plus-execution stack that the bear models emphasize. At $34B of total debt and still-negative FCF, any multi-quarter delay at Plaquemines or further regulatory slippage on CP2 forces either expensive refinancing or equity issuance into a stock that already trades at 3.2x book. Global LNG capacity additions are well-telegraphed; if spot and contract spreads compress another 20–30% while VG is still burning $10B+ of annual capex, the 16.7x trailing P/E becomes an optically cheap multiple on earnings that prove temporary. The market-narrative layer correctly flags that a large fraction of the $36B equity value is an option on successful project delivery and sustained energy-security demand rather than a discounted claim on today’s free cash flow. Those risks are real and explain why peer midstream names with simpler balance sheets trade at tighter spreads.

I still weigh the operating evidence more heavily than the incomplete DCF snapshots: Calcasieu is already a cash-generating proof point, the contracted offtake structure limits pure commodity beta relative to upstream E&P, and EV/EBITDA near 11x is not extreme for infrastructure that is 60–70% through its major growth spend. The stock at $14.39 is therefore not a deep bargain, but neither is it the zero-equity-value disaster some quant composites imply.

Big-3 Panel — where each AI stands
Each AI above independently stated a direction (undervalued, fairly valued, or overvalued) and how strongly it believes it (conviction, 0–5). We combine those into a Bull-Bear Index on a 0–10 scale: 5 is neutral, 10 is maximum bullish (undervalued at full conviction), 0 is maximum bearish. We compute the score ourselves with the same arithmetic for every seat — the models never grade their own bullishness — so the three are directly comparable. Δ shows how far each seat sits from the panel average of 6.0; a large Δ marks the dissenting voice, usually the one worth reading.
Claude claude-opus-4-7 5.0
fairly valued · conviction 3/5 · Δ -1.0 vs panel · self: 5.0
GPT gpt-5.4 8.0
undervalued · conviction 3/5 · Δ +2.0 vs panel · self: 6.0
Grok grok-4.5 5.0
fairly valued · conviction 3/5 · Δ -1.0 vs panel · self: 4.0
Advanced Analysis Forensic deep-dive · separate lenses
Separate reads — Company Quality (is it a great business?), Valuation (is it mispriced?), and General Sentiment (how macro + narrative are pushing it), kept deliberately apart · 2026-08-26 00:27:52
Delvantic - Cairn AI
Pass at $14 — revisit sub-$10 7/10
A narrative-fueled LNG build-out priced for flawless execution — great story, ugly balance sheet, and I'm not paying $14 for it.
The cruxWhether Plaquemines fully ramps and CP2 gets sanctioned cleanly before the ~$32B net debt and 11% annual dilution force a bad-terms capital raise.
Forensic checks Derived mechanically from VG's filed financials — not from the AI lenses
Liquidity & RunwayCritical Runway
DilutionHeavy Dilution
Earnings QualityAdequate / Mixed
The four lensesswitch a tab for its full read — score + evidence
Company Quality
-75
Shaky
edge √Σ 54 · risk √Σ 152 · conf 6/10

Venture Global is mid-cycle in a massive LNG capex program: revenue swung from $7.90B (2023) to $4.97B (2024) to $13.77B (2025), with gross margin compressing from 78.7% to 57.0% as more capacity comes online at lower unit economics. Reported net income of $2.73B on 2025 revenue sounds healthy, but FCF was -$6.80B, and cumulative three-year FCF is roughly -$21.9B. Net debt of ~$31.85B against $2.36B liquid cash and a runway of ~1.4 quarters on current burn puts survival math squarely in refinancing-dependent territory - Altman Z of 1.21 sits in the classical distress zone. Earnings quality is mixed at best. OCF/NI of 1.82x looks reassuring, but the Beneish M of -1.32 flags statistical manipulation indicators, and the gap between GAAP profits and the $6.8B cash bleed is enormous. Diluted shares grew from 2.14B to 2.64B (10.9% CAGR), so per-share value is being materially eroded even as headline profits print. SBC is only 0.3% of revenue - the dilution is coming from primary equity/structural share issuance tied to financing the build, not comp. Governance signal is poor: 8 insider sells for $42.6M and zero open-market buys over the last 12 months, with a repeated option-exercise-and-immediate-sale pattern from multiple named officers (Larson, Thayer, Blake, Staton, Granat). That is a monetization posture, not a conviction posture, at a company still burning multi-billions annually.

Strengths 2
m45
Real, growing revenue base and cash generation
2025 revenue $13.77B at 37.4% op margin and OCF/NI 1.82x - this is a real operating business with substantial cash-generative assets, not a pre-revenue story.
m30
Contracted LNG asset base (inferred)
The scale and margin profile are consistent with long-dated LNG offtake economics that could deleverage the balance sheet once the capex cycle ends - contingent on execution.
Concerns 6
m85
Distress-zone balance sheet with negligible runway
Net debt ~$31.85B vs $2.36B cash; Altman Z 1.21; FCF -$6.80B implies ~1.4 quarters of runway. Business is structurally dependent on continued debt/equity access.
m70
Chronic cash burn despite GAAP profits
Reported net income $3.62B / $1.75B / $2.73B across 2023-2025, but FCF -$3.54B / -$11.57B / -$6.80B - roughly -$21.9B cumulative. Earnings and cash are telling different stories.
m65
Heavy per-share dilution
Diluted share count 2.14B to 2.64B, 10.9% CAGR, with SBC only 0.3% of revenue - dilution is primary issuance to fund capex, directly diluting owners.
m55
Insider option-exercise-and-dump pattern
8 sells / $42.6M vs 0 open-market buys over 12 months; multiple executives exercise options and sell same-day (Larson repeatedly, Thayer, Blake). No conviction buying anywhere on the tape.
m45
Beneish M flag on earnings integrity
M-score -1.32 exceeds the -1.78 threshold; combined with margin volatility (GM 78.7 to 57.0) and revenue lumpiness ($7.9B to $5.0B to $13.8B), reported earnings warrant skepticism.
m40
Margin compression as capacity scales
Gross margin fell from 78.7% (2023) to 57.0% (2025); operating margin dropped from 61.4% to 37.4%. Suggests early-project economics were not representative of steady-state.
This is a mid-build LNG developer being reported as a mature earner, and the two don't fit. The income statement flatters what the cash flow statement makes plain: the enterprise consumes billions of dollars a year and is kept alive by continuous access to debt and equity markets, with net debt north of $31B and barely more than a quarter of runway at current burn. Layer on 10.9% annual share dilution, a Beneish flag, an Altman Z in the distress zone, and an insider tape that is exclusively exercise-and-sell across multiple officers, and the business-quality picture is meaningfully strained. There is a real asset here and a plausible path to deleveraging once capex normalizes, but today this is a Shaky business, not a Solid one.
Verify before trusting this (5)
  • Debt maturity ladder and covenants - how much refinancing is required in the next 24 months and at what rates
  • Contracted vs merchant LNG mix and remaining capex to complete Plaquemines/CP2 - determines when FCF turns positive
  • Customer concentration and any arbitration/dispute exposure with foundation offtakers (public reports suggest ongoing disputes)
  • Nature of the 10.9% share growth - primary issuance, converts, warrants, earn-outs - and whether more is contractually required
  • Beneish inputs: check DSO trend, gross margin index, and accruals composition against project-accounting revenue recognition
Valuation / Mispricing
-57
Rich
edge √Σ 20 · risk √Σ 85 · conf 6/10
price $14.07 vs my deserved ~$9-11 - roughly 30-50% above where the risk/reward turns interesting. attractive below $9.00

The e2e composite spits out a negative fair value ($-0.04) driven by an EPV-floor that treats today's negative free cash flow as steady-state. That's mechanically broken for a mid-build LNG developer whose value lives in Plaquemines and CP2 coming online, so I won't take -$0.04 literally. But the direction is right: on current cash generation the equity is worth roughly zero, and the entire $36B market cap is an option on flawless project execution against $31B+ net debt and ~11% annual dilution. Against a Shaky quality grade, deserved value has to be haircut, not extended. Peer LNG midstream (CQP, LNG) trade on run-rate EBITDA from operating trains; VG is being priced as if its trains are already contracted, ramped, and de-risked. To justify $14 you need Plaquemines Phase 1+2 at nameplate, CP2 sanctioned and on-time, spot-heavy spreads holding, and no further equity raises - that's a stacked bet, not a base case. Fair, in my view, sits closer to $9-11 once you demand a real margin of safety for construction, permitting, and dilution risk. Not a screaming short given the growth optionality, but not cheap.

Cheap signals 1
m20
EPV floor is not the right lens
The -$0.04 composite fair value comes from steady-stating a mid-build developer's negative FCF; that mechanically understates option value in trains not yet online, so 'infinitely overvalued' overstates the case.
Rich / priced-in 4
m55
Priced for flawless ramp
$36B market cap on top of $31B+ net debt implies an EV that already capitalizes Plaquemines and CP2 as if de-risked and contracted at premium spreads.
m45
Dilution eats per-share value
~10.9% annual share issuance means even if enterprise value compounds, per-share deserved value grows far slower - the market cap keeps inflating faster than intrinsic per-share worth.
m35
Quality haircut warranted
Shaky quality grade (-75) with reported earnings flattered vs cash burn; deserved multiple should be below, not above, mature LNG peers.
m30
No margin of safety
Even a generous sum-of-parts on contracted trains struggles to clear $14 once you subtract net debt and probability-weight construction/permit slippage on CP2.
I don't buy the -$0.04 fair value literally - that's an EPV artifact on a company that hasn't finished building itself. But the honest read is still that $14 requires everything to work: full ramp, CP2 sanctioned cleanly, spreads staying wide, and dilution slowing. I want a real discount for a Shaky balance sheet and 11% annual share creep, and that puts my interest zone closer to $9. At $14 this is a rich turnaround bet, not a value setup.
Verify before trusting this (5)
  • Plaquemines Phase 1 and 2 commissioning cadence and realized spreads vs spot
  • CP2 FID status, financing structure, and expected equity funding need
  • SPA contract mix - what % of future volumes are contracted vs merchant
  • Any further equity or convertible issuance guidance
  • Litigation/arbitration exposure with foundation SPA customers over commissioning cargoes
General Sentiment
+31
Tailwind
tail √Σ 100 · head √Σ 67 · conf 6/10

VG is riding a strong turnaround-bet narrative as the pure-play US LNG export growth story, with Plaquemines, Calcasieu and CP2 giving the market a clean vehicle for the post-Ukraine energy-security thesis. Momentum confirms it - 176.9% recent vs 32% long-term CAGR - and hedge fund crowding (51 holders per the news flow) tells you this is a favored expression, not a forgotten one. The narrative intensity is strong with moderate durability and medium cult coefficient, which is exactly the profile that keeps bid on dips in a risk-on tape.

Tailwinds 3
m70
Strong LNG-growth narrative with cult following
Turnaround-bet archetype with strong intensity and medium cult coefficient - the market wants a pure-play LNG export vehicle and VG is it. That keeps marginal buyers engaged on every dip.
m62
Powerful momentum and hedge-fund crowding
176.9% recent vs 32% long-term CAGR plus 51 hedge funds holding is a reflexive tailwind - performance chasing and prime-broker flow amplify moves in a name like this.
m35
Risk-on tape helps high-beta story names
Nascent risk-on regime with VIX at 15.5 is exactly the environment where narrative premium expands rather than compresses; VG's high-beta, story-driven profile catches more of that lift than defensives.
Headwinds 3
m45
Rate/valuation macro pressure on capex-heavy unprofitables
10y at 4.7% and market PE 25.7 are a persistent drag on any name whose value sits in far-dated cash flows funded by 20B+ of project capex. This mutes but does not offset the narrative bid.
m40
Late-cycle sentiment framing in the news
Headlines are already asking 'can the rally last' - a classic tell that positioning is crowded and the marginal narrative buyer is getting harder to find. Sentiment durability is only moderate.
m30
Narrative-fundamentals gap is a coiled spring
The DCF cannot justify the equity value, meaning the entire cap is narrative premium. Not a current headwind, but any single negative catalyst - a delay, a permit, a spread compression - would re-rate hard because there is no fundamental floor.
Net tailwind, but a nervous one. The LNG-growth narrative is doing all the heavy lifting here - it is intense, it has a cult, and it is being fed by real momentum and hedge fund crowding in a risk-on tape. That is a genuine upward press on this specific name that a Balanced call would understate. But I am flagging that this is pure narrative pressure with essentially no fundamental cushion beneath it; the same forces that are pushing it up will reverse violently on the first crack in the story. Ride the tape, respect the sentiment, but do not confuse this force with quality.
Verify before trusting this (5)
  • Any Plaquemines or CP2 construction/commissioning delay headline
  • Global LNG spot spreads (TTF-HH) and whether utilization/realized prices are holding
  • LNG export permitting posture from DOE/FERC
  • Sell-side target revisions and whether consensus starts calling the rally stretched
  • Hedge fund positioning changes in next 13F cycle - crowding is a two-way risk
The market-wide tape + this name's exposure to it (beta / sector / narrative durability). Context on the non-fundamental pressure — not a call on the business or the price. processId: detail-general-sentiment
Growth Outlook
+13
Growing
edge √Σ 117 · risk √Σ 104 · conf 7/10

Post-2022 energy security repricing made US Gulf Coast LNG the marginal supplier to both Europe and Asia, and VG is one of the few operators actually adding trains into that gap. The offsetting world fact is that everyone else noticed: a large global liquefaction supply wave lands 2026-2028 (Qatari expansion plus multiple US projects), which should compress spot spreads even as absolute demand grows. That combination favors owners of contracted, low-cost capacity and punishes anyone whose earnings depend on spot arbitrage. VG sits on both sides of it — its volume growth is insulated, its price realization is not. Macro (10y at 4.7%, flat-ish curve) is a real cost-of-capital tax on a company still spending heavily on construction.

Growth drivers 4
m82
Plaquemines volume ramp (capacity, not demand, is the variable)
Matched-quarter YoY of +53% revenue / +58% operating income is being produced by new trains coming into service, not by price. Unlike most midstream names, VG's near-term growth is a construction/commissioning schedule rather than a demand forecast — the volumes are physically arriving and the offtake is largely pre-sold. This is the single most reliable growth mechanism in the file.
m60
CP2 as a second, sequential capacity step
A third large project under construction extends the volume-growth runway past the Plaquemines ramp, so the 2-3 year rung does not depend on the same asset lapping itself. This is what converts a one-project ramp into a multi-year capacity compounding story — subject entirely to execution and permitting.
m45
Category in genuine boom, and company outrunning it
Midstream category median recent growth is +27% with margins holding at the sector level and capital being committed broadly; VG is printing roughly double that. Being the fastest grower inside an expanding category means the growth is not a share-steal that invites retaliation — it is new capacity meeting new demand (post-2022 European regasification build-out plus Asian industrial substitution).
m38
Contracted offtake underpins the base
Long-term SPAs at fixed liquefaction fees give a floor under revenue as spot exposure shrinks — margin per unit falls but the volume-times-fee base becomes far more predictable, which supports the Holding/Growing floor rather than a cliff if global spreads compress.
Growth risks 4
m70
Spot-spread compression as commissioning cargoes convert to contract
The outsized earnings prints (net income +106%, recent earnings YoY volatility, one -35% EPS miss) reflect commissioning cargoes sold into spot LNG. As trains hand over to long-term buyers, revenue per unit steps DOWN to contracted liquefaction fees, and a 2026-28 global supply wave pressures the spot leg further. Volumes up, realized margin down — earnings growth can decelerate sharply even while revenue grows.
m53
Execution, commissioning-timing and contractual disputes
The entire thesis is a schedule. Slippage in train handover or CP2 first-LNG shifts earnings across years, and disputes with foundation offtakers over commissioning-period cargoes are a live, non-trivial liability that does not show up in the trajectory data.
m45
Capex/leverage funded into a 4.7% ten-year
A multi-project build carries a very large capital program against a macro-headwind backdrop. Interest burden and any need for incremental financing sit directly between EBITDA growth and net income growth — the reason earnings CAGR is negative (-13%) despite a 32% revenue CAGR.
m34
Industry-wide margin compression and low earnings visibility
Landscape shows operating margins down ~24pp and industry earnings CAGR -21% over three years, and the company's own revenue series is flagged low-confidence with volatility >1.0 and a decelerating quarterly trend. Growth is real but the shape of the earnings line is genuinely hard to forecast.
vs expectations: ~6m above · 1y inline · 2-3y below
The forward growth verdict — is the business itself likely to grow (next 2 quarters / year 1 / years 2–3), judged against its category and against printed expectations. The full horizon ladder + creme renders on the Growth Outlook card above. Not a call on the price (Valuation owns that) or the tape (Sentiment owns that).
Please log in to view trade setups
The Augustus trade-setup read is a members feature.
Log in
Lenses kept deliberately separate — Company Quality (price-agnostic), Valuation (price-conditional), General Sentiment (non-fundamental macro/narrative pressure), and Growth Outlook (the forward growth verdict). The scores are not blended. Filing-level items (convertibles, lock-ups, customer concentration) are v2 — see each lens's "verify."
Price Prediction
Lower -14.4% v0.6.0 View full prediction →

When we made this prediction on Aug 26, 2026, VG was $14.26. We expect it to be $12.20 by Feb 2027, and we consider it great value under $9.00. This is an early model (v0.6.0) — the direction is more reliable than the exact price. Made Aug 26, 2026.

Price when predicted$14.26
Our estimate for Feb 2027$12.20-14.4%
Great value below$9.00
Price history shown (6 Months)

Blue is our prediction, starting the day we made it. Grey is a slower route to the same place — the same destination, taking longer. Black is the actual price, so you can see how we are doing.

Community AI Feedback
No community reviews yet for VG. Be the first — hit How to Contribute, have any AI review this page, and paste its take back here.
My Notes personal — only you see this
v1.1.760 · f4b58a28 · 2026-10-07 20:07:48