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Topic: Growth Stocks

BELLATRIX EXPLORATION $5.93 – Toronto symbol BXE

BELLATRIX EXPLORATION $5.93 (Toronto symbol BXE; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-266-8670; www.bellatrixexploration- .com; Shares outstanding: 107.9 million; Market cap: $639.8 million; No dividends paid) produces natural gas (70% of output) and oil (30%) in Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan.

In the three months ended December 31, 2012, Bellatrix’s production rose 32.1%, to 18,763 barrels of oil equivalent per day (including gas) from 14,209 a year earlier. Cash flow per share increased 7.1%, to $0.30 from $0.28.

Bellatrix continues to have considerable exploration success thanks to its expertise in horizontal drilling (or drilling down and “across” to oil and gas deposits) and fracturing, which involves pumping water, chemicals and other materials into rock to allow oil and gas to flow upward.

In 2012, the company drilled 34 wells with a 100% success rate. That included strong gas flow at its Ferrier well in central Alberta, which is three miles deep and almost two miles across.

As a result of that success, Bellatrix has signed a joint-venture agreement with an unnamed South Korean investment fund. This deal should speed up the development of the company’s Cardium shale oil deposits in west-central Alberta. Bellatrix’s new partner will pay $150 million for 33% of the output from a planned 83-well drilling program.

The company now expects to end 2013 with production as high as 31,000 barrels a day. The stock is up 39% for us so far this year, but it still trades at just 3.7 times Bellatrix’s estimated 2013 cash flow of $1.62 a share. The company’s cash flow is forecast to rise to $2.35 a share in 2014, and the shares trade at just 2.5 times that figure.

Bellatrix is a buy for aggressive investors.

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