Buffett Brain · Research note
Score updated 29 Oct 2026 · analysis from 2 Jun 2026
TTE· Energy
TotalEnergies
TotalEnergies pumps oil at a cheap 12.4 times earnings, but a 6.4 percent return on capital tells you the rock, not the company, sets the price.
Buffett fit
Weak fit
Owner
28
Durability
57
Management
77
Price
73
Score updated 29 Oct 2026 · analysis from 2 Jun 2026
Buffett's checklist
Each number against Buffett's bar, and where it ranks among Energy stocks in our database.
How much profit the business makes on each dollar invested in it. Higher is better.
What is left of each sale after the cost of making the product. A high number often means pricing power.
The cash the business earns for its owners, compared with the price of the whole company.
How fast sales grew each year over the last five years.
How many years of today's profit you pay for at today's price. Lower means cheaper.
How much the company owes compared with what it owns outright. Lower is safer.
The four pillars
How the business measures up on each of Buffett's four tests.
If I owned all of TotalEnergies I would be glad of the cash but uneasy about the source.
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Durability scores a middling 57, and the numbers explain why. Revenue has shrunk at 0.3 percent a year and earnings per share at 1 percent, and in the worst stretch earnings fell almost 22.5 percent.
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Management earns a 77 here, and they deserve it for discipline. They have shrunk the share count by 4.5 percent a year through , kept at a sober 0.52, and held net debt to EBITDA below 0.9.
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The price is the one thing in TotalEnergies' favor. At 12.4 times earnings, an 8.1 percent earnings yield and a 5.6 percent owner-earnings yield, you are not overpaying, and the valuation score of 73 says as much.
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For and against
The strongest points on each side, with the numbers behind them.
In its favor
6- 1Cheap on every cut: 12.4 times earnings, an 11.7 EV to and an 8.1 percent earnings yield leave little froth in the price.
- 2Disciplined capital return, with the share count shrinking 4.5 percent a year through .
- 3Conservative balance sheet for a major, with at 0.52 and net debt to EBITDA at just 0.89.
- 4Interest is covered a comfortable 6 times over, so the debt load is in no danger of choking the company.
Concerns
7- 1Return on capital is poor: 6.4 percent over the last twelve months, well below the 10.1 percent five-year average and far short of what a great business earns.
- 2No real , scored 28, because an oil barrel is a commodity and the market, not TotalEnergies, sets the price.
- 3The business is shrinking, with revenue down 0.3 percent and earnings per share down 1 percent a year.
- 4 is only 82 percent of net income, so reported profits overstate the cash an owner actually receives.
Price history
$94.03+88.0%· 5-year return
Weekly closing prices. Touch or hover the line for a date.
The business
How the business works
TotalEnergies finds, pumps, refines and sells hydrocarbons, with a growing leg in electricity and gas trading. The economics are commodity economics: a 30.9 percent narrows to a 12.9 percent , and the whole machine earned just 6.4 percent on capital over the last twelve months. When the price of a barrel decides your revenue, you do not really own the pricing.
How this analysis has moved
The call has held across 6 reviews.
Sep 27, 2026 → Oct 29, 2026
What other investors would say
The same company, judged by three other documented playbooks.
Keep researching
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