oil and gas

Bank of Nova Scotia is now up 27% this year after reporting strong results in the latest quarter across all of its businesses. The gains have prompted the bank to raise its dividend for the second time this year. While provisions for loan losses from its oil and gas clients are still high, the bank feels that the worst is over for its energy borrowers....

BONAVISTA ENERGY $3.47 (Toronto symbol BNP; Shares outstanding: 248.5 million; Market cap: $884.9 million; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 1.2%; www.bonavistaenergy.com) explores for oil and gas in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. Its output is 69% gas and 31% oil.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2016, Bonavista’s cash flow per share fell 38.6%, to $0.27 from $0.44 a year earlier....

PENGROWTH ENERGY $1.89 (Toronto symbol PGF; Shares outstanding: 547.4 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; No dividends paid; www.pengrowth.com) produces oil and natural gas, mostly in Western Canada. This includes its Lindbergh oil sands project in Alberta....

BUCKEYE PARTNERS L.P. $70 (www.buckeye.com) operates 9,600 kilometres of pipelines in the northeastern and midwestern U.S. Its network pumps gasoline, jet fuel and other petroleum products. The partnership also owns oil and gas storage terminals. Buckeye continues to benefit from oil producers that opt to store their crude instead of selling it at today’s low prices....

Imperial Oil stock (Toronto symbol IMO) is Canada’s second-largest publicly traded oil company, after Suncor Energy.

RUSSEL METALS $22.11 (Toronto symbol RUS; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (905- 819-7777; www.russelmetals.com; Shares outstanding: 61.7 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion; Dividend yield: 6.9%) is one of North America’s largest metal distributors, serving 39,000 clients at 53 locations in Canada and 12 in the U.S....

PASON SYSTEMS $18.59 (Toronto symbol PSI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-301-3400; www.pason.com; Shares outstanding: 84.3 million; Market cap: $1.6 billion; Dividend yield: 3.7%) serves oil and gas drilling contractors in Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Argentina....

A: Freeport-McMoRan Inc., $12.09, symbol FCX on New York (Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $16.2 billion; www.fcx.com), is a leading producer of copper, gold and other metals from mines in the U.S., Indonesia, Africa and South America.

In 2015, copper supplied 67% of Freeport’s revenue, followed by oil and gas, 11%; gold, 10%; molybdenum (which strengthens alloys and high-temperature steels while preventing rust), 5%; and other minerals, 7%.

The U.S....

Oil prices fell from over $90 U.S. a barrel in 2014 to a recent low of $30. Prices have since rebounded to over $40 but it’s possible that they will remain low for some time. That adds risk for these three firms that service oil producers.

Recent cost cutting by all three will help them thrive when crude prices move higher....

Imperial Oil shares are still a best buy among oil and gas companies