** Shares of oil and gas producer Civitas Resources CIVI.N drop ~7% to $45.93 premarket

** Co misses Q4 profit estimate; posts adj. EPS of $1.78 vs est. of $1.98 - data compiled by LSEG

** Co to lay off 10% of its workforce and expects to reduce 2025 year-end net debt below $4.5 billion

** Says free cash flow generated in 2025 is anticipated to cover the payment of the base dividend and meet the company's year-end net debt target

** "We understand the rationale in protecting FCF in a volatile macro ... (but) a declining top-line story is tough to digest," TD Cowen analysts said in a note

** Brokerage Keybanc Capital Markets downgrades stock to "sector weight" from "overweight" and removes its PT of $84

** Lack of commentary on DJ Basin asset sales, abrupt termination of the COO and forecast of 4% y-o-y decline in oil production in 2025 are likely to weigh on shares over the next few months - Keybanc

** "We can't defend CIVI shares amid operational volatility and little deleveraging. We expect these items to overshadow positives in the report"

** As of last close, stock is up 7.5% YTD

(Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru)

((Srivastava.Vallari@thomsonreuters.com;))