BONAVISTA ENERGY $23.49 (Toronto symbol BNP; Shares outstanding: 162.5 million; Market cap: $3.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Divd. yield: 6.1%; www.bonavistaenergy.com) explores for oil and natural gas in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. It converted from an income trust to a dividend paying stock on December 31, 2010.
Bonavista produces an average of 71,636 barrels of oil equivalent per day, weighted 62% to gas and 38% to oil.
In the quarter ended September 30, 2011, Bonavista’s cash flow per share rose 6.3%, to $0.84 from $0.79.
The stock trades at 6.7 times Bonavista’s forecast 2012 cash flow of $3.50 a share. The company’s long-term debt of $1.0 billion is a reasonable 26.3% of its $3.8-billion market cap.
Before it converted, Bonavista paid a monthly distribution of $0.16 a unit. It subsequently cut that to $0.12 a share. However, the company pays out just 41% of cash flow as dividends, so it should be able to easily maintain the current dividend rate.
Bonavista plans to spend at least $400 million on exploration and development in 2012. That’s down from the $600 million that it spent in 2011. However, Bonavista had a lot of exploration success in 2011, which prompted it to raise its spending during the year. That could happen again in 2012.
Bonavista Energy Corp. is a buy.