oil and gas
CALIAN TECHNOLOGIES, $19.10, symbol CTY on Toronto, operates in two areas: the business and technology services division, which accounts for 74% of Calian’s revenue, provides engineers, health-care workers and other professionals to clients on a contract basis. The systems-engineering division contributes the remaining 26% of revenue, and sells hardware and software that is used for testing, operating and managing satellite and other communication systems. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, Calian’s revenue rose 1.7%, to $58.5 million from $57.6 million a year earlier. However, earnings fell 10.2%, to $3.5 million or $0.45 a share, from $3.8 million or $0.49 a share. This was mostly due to a slowdown in government contracts during the spring federal election campaign, and the higher Canadian dollar....
When investors see a day like Thursday, with a drop of more than 500 points in the Dow Jones Industrials, they can’t help but wonder if we face a replay of the 2007-2009 market plunge. However, though today’s situation could turn out badly, that’s not inevitable. It’s much different from a few years ago. The 2007-2009 drop was mostly about the collapse of the housing boom and everything that went with it. Today there is no boom that could deflate and bring down the economy. Today’s problem grows out of government attempts at ‘fixing’ the economy in recent years. These fixes, which were mostly unsuccessful, bloated government spending and created huge debts. Today’s main market worry is how the U.S. federal government will attempt to fix its budget deficit and bring its debt down to a manageable level. To top things off, the Obama administration has also brought in big changes in health care, union and environmental rules and so on. Some of these changes face court challenges and political opposition. But some are sure to survive and go into effect. Others are sure to follow....
CRITICALCONTROL SOLUTIONS CORP. $0.54 (Toronto symbol CCZ; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (1-877-215-5883; www.criticalcontrol.com; Shares outstanding: 45.8 million; Market cap: $28.4 million; No dividends paid.) sells software and services that help businesses better manage, access and store their information. CriticalControl gets about 60% of its revenue from clients in the oil and gas industry, followed by government (20%), health care (10%) and finance and retail (10%). In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Critical-Control’s revenue fell 6.2%, to $12.2 million from $13.0 million a year earlier. Revenue at the Service Bureau Operations division rose 10%, while revenue at the Canadian Energy Services division was flat. Revenue at the U.S. Energy Services division fell 28.0%....
Caterpillar Inc., $107.80, symbol CAT on New York (Shares outstanding: 650.4 million; Market cap: $70.5 billion; www.cat.com), is the world’s largest maker of earth-moving equipment. Its products include tractors, scrapers, graders, compactors, loaders, and pipe layers. The company also makes lift trucks and diesel and turbine engines. Caterpillar gets 70% of its sales from outside the U.S. Its clients are mainly in the road-building, mining, logging, agriculture, oil and gas, and construction industries. The company sells its machines through a worldwide dealer network. Caterpillar also provides dealers and customers with equipment financing and insurance....
BHP BILLITON LTD. ADRs, $91.08, New York symbol BHP, is buying Petrohawk Energy Corp. (New York symbol HK), which produces oil and natural gas from properties in Texas and Louisiana. The $12.1-billion purchase price is equal to 5% of BHP’s $242.6-billion market cap. The company held cash of $16.6 billion at December 31, 2010, so it can comfortably afford this acquisition. BHP expects to close the deal by September 30, 2011. BHP is mostly a mining company, but is expanding its oil and gas operations. This purchase will give BHP control of roughly one million acres in the large Haynesville, Eagle Ford and Permian Basin shale-gas discoveries. (Shale gas is natural gas that is trapped in rock formations. To extract it, companies must pump water and chemicals into the rock. This fractures the rock and releases the natural gas.)...
Pengrowth quickly became Canada’s largest oil and gas income trust after it was formed in 1989. As a trust, it paid out most of its cash flow to its unitholders. That left it with little to invest in exploration or growth projects. At the start of 2011, Pengrowth converted to a corporation in response to the federal government’s new tax on income-trust distributions, which came into effect on January 1 of this year. Unitholders received one common share for each unit they held. Now that it is a corporation, Pengrowth is using some of the cash from its conventional properties to expand into more risky areas, such as oil sands and shale gas. However, these projects have strong long-term potential, and their cash flows will help Pengrowth maintain its high dividend yield....
TransForce Inc., $15.02, symbol TFI on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 95.9 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion; www.transforcecompany.com), provides a variety of trucking services across Canada. Its trucking fleet is the largest in the country, with 9,500 trucks and 11,100 trailers. The company also has exclusive partnerships that extend its reach into the U.S. Montreal-based TransForce was an income trust from September 2002 to May 2008. The company has four main divisions:...
Chesapeake Energy, $29.88, symbol CHK on New York, is a recommendation of our Stock Pickers Digest newsletter. It’s a buy. A: UGI Corp., $32.15, symbol UGI on New York (Shares outstanding: 110.5 million; Market cap: $3.6 billion; www.ugicorp.com), has five main divisions: Gas Utility (which accounted for 32% of UGI’s 2010 earnings), Midstream & Marketing (26%), International Propane (22% of 2010 earnings), AmeriGas Propane (17%), and Electric Utility (3%). UGI distributes natural gas and electricity to nearly 568,000 customers in eastern Pennsylvania; 44%-owned AmeriGas is the largest U.S. propane marketer, serving about 1.3 million users in 50 states....
Imperial Oil’s large oil and gas reserves will let it grow for decades. To tap into those reserves, Imperial will spend $3.5 billion to $4 billion a year over the next 10 years (for a total of $35 billion to $40 billion). Its cash flow is forecast to be over $3.8 billion this year, so it can meet its spending targets without taking on debt or issuing shares. IMPERIAL OIL $45.38 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 854.2 million; Market cap: $38.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.0%; www.imperialoil.ca) is a major integrated-oil company that gets most of its production from its oil-sands projects in Alberta. Imperial also has conventional oil and natural-gas operations in western Canada, and holds interests in offshore projects in Atlantic Canada. The company’s other operations include four refineries and roughly 1,900 Esso gas stations In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Imperial’s cash flow rose 33.1%, to $873 million, or $1.03 a share. A year earlier, cash flow was $656 million, or $0.77 a share. The rise came mainly from higher production, higher oil prices and improved profits at Imperial’s refineries. Revenue rose 11.4%, to $6.9 billion from $6.2 billion....
CriticalControl Solutions Corp., symbol CCZ on Toronto, sells services and software that help business better manage, access and store their information. CriticalControl gets about 60% of its revenue from clients in the oil and gas industry, followed by government (20%), health care (10%) and finance and retail (10%). CriticalControl is one of the stocks we analyze in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that helps you make great stock picks for the part of your portfolio you devote to aggressive investing. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, CriticalControl’s revenue fell 6.2%, to $12.2 million from $13.0 million a year earlier. Revenue at the Service Bureau Operations division rose 10%, while revenue at the Canadian Energy Services division was flat. Revenue at the U.S. Energy Services division fell 28.0%....