oil prices

BOMBARDIER INC. $1.35 (www.bombardier.com) recently sold 30% of its railcar business to Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, which manages the province’s public pension plan, for $1.5 billion U.S. It also sold 49.5% of its CSeries passenger jet business for $1 billion U.S. However, its debt of $9.0 billion U.S. is now a high 4.8 times its depressed market cap of $2.7 billion (Canadian). As a result, we’ve cut Bombardier’s TSINetwork Rating, from “Extra Risk” to “Speculative”. Hold. PENGROWTH ENERGY INC. $0.72 (www.pengrowth.com) has sold its Jenner oil property in Alberta for $78 million. This is part of its plan to sell $600 million of its less-important properties, and apply the proceeds to its long-term debt of $1.86 billion (as of November 30, 2015), which is a high 4.8 times its $391.0-million market cap. However, low oil prices will hurt its ability to keep paying down debt, which is why we’ve cut Pengrowth’s TSINetwork Rating, from “Average” to “Speculative”. Hold. RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $46 (www.rbi.com) has raised its quarterly dividend by 8.3%, to $0.13 U.S. a share from $0.12 U.S. The new annual rate of $0.52 U.S. yields 1.5%. Hold....

Stock market cycles occur repeatedly—and there are any number of theories as to which sectors will outperform at any given short term stage of the cycle....

Chevron dividend- Chevron’s oil gas earnings have dropped dramatically with energy prices, but its refineries new gas projects are keeping its dividend safe

CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL INC., $412.96, symbol CMG on New York, is a Denver-based Mexican restaurant chain. It charges slightly higher prices than fast food companies but offers better quality food, including naturally raised meat and superior decor and service. The stock continues to suffer as the company copes with food-safety concerns at its restaurants. In October and November 2015, E. coli infections sickened 52 people at Chipotle locations in nine states and forced the company to temporarily close some outlets. Recent norovirus outbreaks at restaurants in California and Massachusetts have added to the bad publicity. Norovirus, which causes stomach problems, is highly infectious, though not fatal....

CENOVUS ENERGY $17.33 (Toronto symbol CVE; Shares outstanding: 833.2 million; Market cap: $14.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 3.7%; www.cenovus.com) plans to spend $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion on upgrades to its oil and gas properties in 2016. That’s down about 19% from $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion in 2015. The company will spend 80% of the funds budgeted for 2016 on maintaining existing wells and refineries. It will use the remaining 20% to expand its oil sands projects. Meantime, Cenovus is doing a good job of cutting costs in response to lower oil prices. For 2016, it expects per-barrel operating costs at its Foster Creek and Christina lake oil sands projects to be 15% lower than 2014....

ISHARES MSCI SOUTH KOREA INDEX FUND $52.74 (New York symbol EWY; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the MSCI Korea Index. The ETF’s top holdings are Samsung Electronics, 24.6%; Hyundai Motor, 3.6%; SK Hynix Semiconductor, 2.8; Shinhan Financial, 2.8%; Naver (Internet), 2.8%; Hyundai Mobis (auto parts), 2.7%; LG Chemicals, 2.4%; Kia Motors, 2.2%; KB Financial, 2.2%; AmorePacific Corp. (cosmetics), 2.1%; Korea Electric Power, 2.0%; KT&G Corp. (tobacco), 1.8%; and Posco (steel), 1.8%.

The iShares MSCI South Korea Index Fund was launched on May 9, 2000. Its expense ratio is 0.62%. South Korea has Asia’s fourth-largest economy, after China, Japan and India. It is heavily reliant on exports, but shipments to the U.S. are rebounding, offsetting weakness in Europe and China.

The steady rise of South Korea’s currency, the won, hurt its economy in 2012 and 2013 by making its goods more expensive for foreign buyers. But South Korea has cut interest rates to record lows, bringing the won back down to five-year lows against the U.S. dollar and boosting exports.

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With energy prices down, Encana has cut its dividend and sold assets, but we still view it as an energy stock with great long-term potential.

We see these two international ETFs from South Korea and Germany as sound choices for a diversified portfolio.

The outlook for oil and other commodities remains weak, but we still feel that most investors should devote 10% to 15% of their portfolios to resource stocks. But only buy these or any stocks if you are prepared to hold them for at least the next several years. To further cut your risk, you should focus on companies with high-quality reserves, like the three we analyze below. All three are also reducing their costs, which puts them in a better position to profit when prices recover. However, not all of them are buys right now. CHEVRON CORP. $93 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $176.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 4.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.chevron.com) produced an average of 2.54 million barrels of oil a day (including natural gas) in the three months ended September 30, 2015. That’s down 1.1% from 2.57 million barrels a day a year earlier....

CHEVRON CORP. $93 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $176.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 4.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.chevron.com) produced an average of 2.54 million barrels of oil a day (including natural gas) in the three months ended September 30, 2015. That’s down 1.1% from 2.57 million barrels a day a year earlier. The decrease is mainly because Chevron has sold $11 billion worth of less important businesses since 2014; the company aims to sell another $5 billion to $10 billion worth of assets by the end of 2017. In addition to the lower production, Chevron’s realized oil price plunged 51.7% in the latest quarter, while gas prices fell 43.4%....