America's 15 Fastest Shrinking Companies

Source: Wikimedia Commons

3. ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)
> 3-yr. revenue chg.: -49.7%
> Latest annual revenue: $30.3 billion

After spinning off its downstream operations during its 2012 fiscal year, ConocoPhillips has concentrated on oil extraction. Like a number of oil and gas producers, the company has suffered the consequences of the substantial drop in oil prices since 2014. Revenue fell by nearly 50% in its last three fiscal years, and the company reported a net loss of more than $4 billion in fiscal 2015 after reporting a profit of $7 billion the previous year. In a letter to shareholders in the company’s 2015 annual report, CEO Ryan Lance explained, “Our financial results clearly reflected the key factor we couldn’t control—weak oil and natural gas prices.”

After hitting a roughly decade-long high of over $86 per share in 2014, shares of the company are down by more than 40% over the past three years and are trading at around $40 per share.

Source: marathon.com

2. Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO)
> 3-yr. revenue chg.: -53.3%
> Latest annual revenue: $5.6 billion

Marathon Oil Corporation shrank faster than nearly any other S&P 500 company. Like many major U.S. oil producers, the company’s revenue decline is largely due to the worldwide drop in oil prices. Despite increasing average daily oil production since 2013, Marathon’s revenue shrank by 53.3% over the last three years, falling from $12.0 billion in fiscal 2013 to $5.6 billion in fiscal 2015. The company reported a net loss of $2.2 billion in fiscal 2015, underperforming most oil companies of similar size. Marathon has also been consolidating its operations in recent years, selling more than $6 billion in assets since 2013.

Source: apachecorp.com

1. Apache Corp. (NYSE:APA)
> 3-yr. revenue chg.: -61.4%
> Latest annual revenue: $6.3 billion

Apache Corp. reported a net loss of $23.1 billion in fiscal 2015, the most of any S&P 500 company. The average price of oil in 2015 was less than half what it was two years prior, and partially as a result, the company’s revenue has plunged 61.4% over its past three fiscal years. Like many major U.S. oil producers, Apache is adapting to the worldwide decline in oil prices by consolidating operations. The company’s capital budget for 2016 is 60% lower than it was in 2015 and 80% of that in 2014. In 2015, the company sold its Australian operations for $2.1 billion. Even after excluding the company’s Australian production, comparable oil production in 2015 was roughly 12 million barrels less than in 2013.