Cenovus Energy Inc.

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $21.94 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is a good low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses are just 0.17% of assets.

The index mostly consists of high-quality companies. However, it must ensure that all sectors are represented, so it holds a few we wouldn’t include.

The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 8.1%; TD Bank, 7.4%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 6.4%; Suncor Energy, 4.8%; CN Railway, 4.2%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.9%; Bank of Montreal, 3.7%; Enbridge, 3.1%; Valeant Pharmaceuticals, 3.0%; Manulife Financial, 2.9%; CIBC, 2.8%; BCE, 2.7%; TransCanada Corp., 2.6%; Potash Corp., 2.5%; CP Rail, 2.2%; and Cenovus, 1.9%.

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CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $32 (Toronto symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 756.5 million; Market cap: $24.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cenovus.com) gets about 40% of its output from its oil sands projects in Alberta. Conventional oil and natural gas wells supply the other 60%.

U.S.-based ConocoPhillips (New York symbol COP) owns 50% of Cenovus’s main Foster Creek and Christina Lake oil sands projects in Alberta. These properties produce heavy bitumen, which Cenovus ships to its 50%-owned refineries in Illinois and Texas. Phillips 66 (New York symbol PSX) owns the other 50% of these refineries. In 2013, refining accounted for 66% of Cenovus’s revenue and 40% of its earnings.


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energy stocks oil sands
CENOVUS ENERGY INC. (Toronto symbol CVE; www.cenovus.com) gets about 40% of its output from its oil sands projects in Alberta. Conventional oil and natural gas wells supply the other 60%. U.S.-based ConocoPhillips (New York symbol COP) owns 50% of Cenovus’s main Foster Creek and Christina Lake oil sands projects in Alberta. These properties produce heavy bitumen, which Cenovus ships to its 50%-owned refineries in Illinois and Texas. Phillips 66 (New York symbol PSX) owns the other 50% of these refineries. In 2013, refining accounted for 66% of Cenovus’s revenue and 40% of its earnings....
CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $32 (Toronto symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 756.5 million; Market cap: $24.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cenovus.com) gets about 40% of its output from its oil sands projects in Alberta. Conventional oil and natural gas wells supply the other 60%. U.S.-based ConocoPhillips (New York symbol COP) owns 50% of Cenovus’s main Foster Creek and Christina Lake oil sands projects in Alberta. These properties produce heavy bitumen, which Cenovus ships to its 50%-owned refineries in Illinois and Texas. Phillips 66 (New York symbol PSX) owns the other 50% of these refineries. In 2013, refining accounted for 66% of Cenovus’s revenue and 40% of its earnings.

A long record of successful expansion

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CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $32 (Toronto symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 756.5 million; Market cap: $24.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cenovus.com) gets about 40% of its output from its oil sands projects in Alberta....
In late 2012 and early 2013, Alberta’s heavy oil, or bitumen, was trading at a discount of around $40 U.S. a barrel to U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light crude. Bitumen from the oil sands is a thick, tar-like form of oil that requires more processing than regular crude. The lower price for Canadian bitumen was mostly due to a lack of pipeline and refinery capacity. As well, increased U.S. light oil production drove down the price of Alberta’s harder-to-process heavy oil. Since then, though, the discount has narrowed: earlier this month, Alberta oil sold for $19.50 U.S. a barrel less than U.S. benchmark WTI light crude....
ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $19.25 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is a good low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses are just 0.17% of assets.

The index mostly consists of high-quality companies. However, it must ensure that all sectors are represented, so it holds a few we wouldn’t include.

The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 8.3%; TD Bank, 7.3%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 6.4%; Suncor Energy, 4.5%; CN Railway, 4.1%; Bank of Montreal, 3.9%; Manulife Financial, 3.1%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.1%; CIBC, 3.0%; BCE, 3.0%; Enbridge, 3.0%; Valeant Pharmaceuticals, 2.9%; TransCanada Corporation, 2.7%; Potash Corp., 2.4%; CP Rail, 2.1%; Telus, 2.0%; and Cenovus, 1.9%.
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New technology has increased oil production from North American shale rock formations. Even so, oil prices have held up due to the improving global economy and lower output from conventional wells.

However, the outlook for oil remains uncertain. The lifting of economic sanctions against Iran would increase world oil supplies and hurt prices....
CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $28 (New York symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 755.8 million; Market cap: $21.2 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 3.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cenovus.com) gets 60% of its production from its three heavy oil projects in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan. Conventional oil and natural gas wells supply the remaining 40%.

U.S.-based ConocoPhillips (New York symbol COP) owns 50% of Cenovus’s main Foster Creek and Christina Lake oil sands projects in Alberta. Cenovus ships the bitumen from these fields to its 50%-owned refineries in Illinois and Texas. Phillips 66 (New York symbol PSX) owns the other 50% of these refineries.

The company expects lower cash flow in 2014, partly due to rising operating costs at its oil sands projects. It’s now working on making these operations more efficient.
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