cenovus energy

CENOVUS ENERGY INC., $29.59, Toronto symbol CVE, is selling its Shaunavon shale oil property in Saskatchewan. This field produces 3,600 barrels a day, or about 2% of Cenovus’s total oil production. The company will receive $240 million when the deal closes in July 2013. That’s equal to 61% of the $391 million, or $0.52 a share, that Cenovus earned in the three months ended March 31, 2013. The sale is part of Cenovus’s plan to sell some of its less-important operations. The company also expects to sell its Bakken shale oil property in Saskatchewan in the next few months. It will probably use the cash from these deals to expand its main oil sands operations in Alberta....

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $17.66 (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, 7.8%; TD Bank, 6.7%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 6.0%; Suncor Energy, 4.6%; Bank of Montreal, 3.6%; CN Railway, 3.6%; Potash Corp., 3.3%; Enbridge, 3.1%; Trans- Canada Corp., 3.0%; BCE, 3.0%; CIBC, 2.9%; Canadian Natural Resources, 2.9%; Barrick Gold, 2.9%; Goldcorp, 2.6%; Manulife Financial, 2.3%; Cenovus Energy, 2.2%; and Telus, 1.9%.
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CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $31 (Toronto symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 755.6 million; Market cap: $23.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 3.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cenovus.com) operates three heavy oil projects in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan. It gets about half of its output from the oil sands. Conventional oil and natural gas wells supply the other half.

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. ConocoPhillips recently spun off its refining operations as a separate company called Phillips 66 (New York symbol PSX). This new firm owns the other 50% of these refineries.

Cenovus continues to increase its oil sands output. In the first three months of 2013, it produced 271,100 barrels of oil equivalent a day (66% oil and 34% gas), up 3.1% from 262,900 barrels a year earlier.
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Most U.S. markets have risen lately, while Canada’s resource-heavy Toronto Stock Exchange has lagged. But as always, both remain subject to unexpected downturns. One way to profit from rising markets is to add exchange traded funds (ETFs) that track major stock indexes to your portfolio. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You must pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs, but their low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

Slowing industrial activity in North America and China has pushed down oil demand. At the same time, rising shale oil production from North Dakota’s Bakken region has increased inventories. Both of these factors have weighed on prices.

Low prices are a mixed blessing for these three integrated oil companies....

Most U.S. markets have risen lately, while Canada’s resource-heavy Toronto Stock Exchange has lagged. But as always, both remain subject to unexpected downturns. Even so, the long-term outlook is for higher stock prices.

One way to profit from rising markets is to add exchange traded funds (ETFs) that track major stock indexes to your portfolio.

ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks....

CENOVUS ENERGY $30.90 (Toronto symbol CVE; Shares outstanding: 755.0 million; Market cap: $23.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 3.1%; www.cenovus.com) has three heavy oil projects in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan. The oil sands supply about half of its output. The other half is conventional oil and gas.

U.S.-based ConocoPhillips (New York symbol COP) owns 50% of Cenovus’s main Foster Creek and Christina Lake oil sands projects. Cenovus ships the heavy bitumen from these assets to refineries in Illinois and Texas, which are also 50% owned by ConocoPhillips.

In the quarter ended December 31, 2012, cash flow per share fell 17.8%, to $0.92 from $1.12 a year earlier. Expansion pushed up oil output by 23.1%, to 177,646 barrels a day from 144,273, but that was offset by lower prices. Cenovus aims to boost its production to 500,000 barrels a day by 2021.
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Encana took its present form on December 1, 2009, after the old EnCana Corp. split itself into two new companies: the new Encana, which focuses on natural gas, and Cenovus Energy, which specializes in oil sands. Lower gas prices have pushed Encana’s shares down by about 36% since the split. Oil prices have weakened lately, but Cenovus’s stock is still up about 12%. Here is our latest report on these two energy stocks....

Encana took its present form on December 1, 2009, after the old EnCana Corp. split itself into two new companies: the new Encana, which focuses on natural gas, and Cenovus Energy, which specializes in oil sands. Lower gas prices have pushed Encana’s shares down by about 36% since the split....

BLACKBERRY INC., $15.09, Toronto symbol BB, rose 2% on Thursday after the company reported much better-than-expected earnings. In its 2013 fourth quarter, which ended March 2, 2013, BlackBerry earned $114 million, or $0.22 a share (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). These figures exclude charges related to a restructuring plan that includes cutting the company’s workforce and simplifying its product lines. On that basis, the latest results easily beat the consensus forecast of a $0.34-a-share loss. A year earlier, BlackBerry lost $118 million, or $0.23 a share. Revenue fell 35.9%, to $2.7 billion from $4.2 billion. That’s mainly because customers were waiting for the company to launch new smartphones that use its BlackBerry 10 software. The company began selling these devices in Canada, the U.K. and other markets in February 2013. It started selling them in the U.S. on March 22, 2013....