DVN vs MNR: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. DVN and MNR share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined DVN and MNR exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Devon Energy is a large US independent exploration and production company that finds and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. Its portfolio is anchored in the Delaware Basin (part of the Permian) and includes positions in the Anadarko Basin, Eagle Ford, Williston, and other onshore US plays. As a producer that sells raw commodities into global markets, Devon is largely a price-taker: its revenue, margins, and shareholder payouts are driven mainly by oil and gas prices and by how efficiently it can drill and complete wells, rather than by any single product or brand.

Full DVN guide

Mach Natural Resources LP is an independent upstream oil and gas partnership headquartered in Oklahoma City, run by chief executive Tom L. Ward. The business acquires mature producing assets and then develops them, and it now spans three regions: the Anadarko Basin across western Oklahoma, southern Kansas and the Texas panhandle, the San Juan Basin in New Mexico and Colorado, and the Permian Basin in west Texas. Mach also owns gathering and processing infrastructure that supports its own wells, which is unusual for a producer of its size and helps hold lease operating expense down to roughly $7.21 per barrel of oil equivalent. Second-quarter 2026 production averaged about 148.9 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day, split roughly 15% oil, 69% natural gas and 16% NGLs by volume, though oil supplied about 54% of production revenue because of the price gap between the two.

Full MNR guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• DVN drivers: Oil and gas prices drive the story; Coterra merger and Permian scale.
• MNR drivers: Capital shifting toward oil; Acquire-and-exploit consolidation.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: The dominant risk is commodity price cyclicality: with revenue tied to oil and gas prices, a global slowdown, an OPEC+ supply shift, or weak natural gas prices can compress cash flow and shrink the variable dividend and buybacks quickly. For MNR, commodity prices set almost everything here, and the mix cuts both ways: gas is about 69% of volumes and realized only $1.93 per Mcf in the second quarter of 2026, so a retreat in oil from the $95.40 realized level would land hard on cash flow.

Pick DVN if you believe its drivers more; MNR if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the DVN and MNR guides.

DVN. Figures are approximate and tied to the asOf date; verify live numbers before acting, especially since the Coterra merger recently reshaped the combined company's scale. For a commodity producer, a low P/E can mislead because it may reflect high-price-cycle earnings that will not repeat if oil and gas prices fall. Free cash flow, breakeven cost per barrel, and the sustainability of the variable dividend are more useful lenses than a trailing earnings multiple.

MNR. At roughly $13 per unit, Mach trades near 1.6 times trailing revenue, and enterprise value of about $3.3 billion sits somewhere in the range of four to five times first-half 2026 Adjusted EBITDA annualized (~$377 million for the six months). Trailing earnings are a poor guide because the first quarter of 2026 carried a $35 million net loss driven largely by derivative marks before the second quarter swung to $98 million of income. Most holders anchor on the distribution instead: $0.36 per unit annualizes to about 11% at the current price, while the $1.82 per unit actually paid over the past twelve months works out closer to 14%, and neither figure is a promise about the next four quarters.

Headline figures (approximate, Jul 2026): DVN shows 2026 production guidance roughly 1.4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (combined), including ~500,000 barrels of oil per day, 2026 capital spending ~$4.9 billion, with more than 60% directed to the Permian and roughly 31 rigs, shareholder returns framework targets returning up to ~70% of free cash flow via dividends and buybacks, coterra merger completed May 7, 2026; combined enterprise value reported around $58 billion; MNR shows revenue (ttm) ~$1.35B, q2 2026 revenue ~$406M (vs ~$289M a year earlier), q2 2026 net income / adjusted ebitda ~$98M / ~$182M, market capitalization ~$2.2B (~166.9M common units).

DVN and MNR are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined DVN and MNR exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.