Two U.S. producers with no offshore risk

Article Excerpt

The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will probably lead to greater regulation of offshore drilling. That would hurt the profits of offshore oil and natural-gas producers. However, it should enhance the value of safer onshore oil and gas deposits. Cimarex and Devon focus on onshore oil and gas. They also trade at reasonable multiples to their forecast cash flows. As well, both have low debt and steady development spending. That puts them in a good position to prosper, even if natural-gas or oil prices falter. DEVON ENERGY CORP. $62.67 (New York symbol DVN; SI Rating: Speculative) (405-235-3611; www.devonenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 446.9 million; Market cap: $28.0 billion; Dividend yield: 1.0%) is one of the largest U.S.-based oil and natural-gas explorers and producers. Its production mix is 68% gas and 32% oil. Devon has now completed the sale of its Gulf of Mexico properties, which it saw as risky and expensive to develop. The sale was timely, given the Obama administration’s ban…