APACHE CORP. $40 - New York symbol APA

APACHE CORP. $40 (New York symbol APA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 378.0 million; Market cap: $15.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.apachecorp.com) continues to sell overseas properties as part of a plan to focus on its less-risky onshore operations in North America.

The company recently sold stakes in liquefied natural gas projects and other properties in Australia for $5.7 billion and used the cash to repay $2.7 billion of loans. As of June 30, 2015, Apache’s long-term debt was $9.7 billion, or 64% of its market cap. It also held cash of $2.95 billion.

Excluding writedowns and other unusual items, earnings dropped 85.8% in the three months ended June 30, 2015, to $82 million, or $0.22 a share, from $576 million, or $1.49 a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 39.9%, to $2.0 billion from $3.3 billion. The company now plans to cut its capital spending to between $3.6 billion and $3.9 billion in 2015, down from $10.9 billion in 2014.

Apache is a hold.

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