oil prices
SUNCOR ENERGY INC., $40.52, Toronto symbol SU, plans to spend between $7.2 billion and $7.8 billion to expand and upgrade its operations in 2015. To put these figures in context, the company’s cash flow was $7.6 billion in the first nine months of 2014. Suncor will invest 55% of the 2015 estimate, or $4.3 billion, in its oil sands and other growth projects. The remaining 45% will go to refineries and conventional oil and gas properties. The midpoint of the 2015 range is 10.3% higher than the $6.8 billion the company expects to spend this year—even though oil prices have fallen by more than 20% in the past six months. Suncor feels its new oil sands projects can still generate positive cash flow at today’s prices....
Surge Energy, $6.26, symbol SGY on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 219.8 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion; www.surgeenergy.ca), produces oil and gas in central and northwestern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. Its output is 85% oil and 15% gas. In the three months ended September 30, 2014, Surge produced 20,327 barrels of oil equivalent a day, up 69.3% from 12,008 barrels a year earlier. Acquisitions—including Longview Oil Corp., which Surge bought for $430 million in June 2014—were the main reason for the gain. Longview’s properties are near Surge’s holdings in southeastern Saskatchewan and central Alberta. Cash flow jumped 60.4%, to $71.3 million from $44.5 million, as the increased output and higher natural gas prices offset lower oil prices. However, per-share cash flow fell 10.8%, to $0.33 from $0.37, as the company issued more shares to pay for acquisitions, boosting the total number outstanding by 79%....
Xtreme Drilling & Coil Services Corp., $3.04, symbol XDC on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 82.0 million; Market cap: $249.3 million; www.xtremecoil.com), builds and operates a fleet of drilling rigs and related equipment. The company’s rigs use technology that it specifically developed for unconventional wells, such as shale oil deposits. The company believes its systems let its rigs reach deeper deposits and extract more oil than its competitors can. Xtreme makes two types of rigs: its 21 XDR drilling rigs mainly operate in the Alberta oil sands and North Dakota’s Bakken shale region. The company also owns seven XSR coiled-tubing rigs, which insert flexible steel pipe into oil and gas wells to make horizontal drilling more effective. The XSR rigs mainly operate in Saudi Arabia and Texas’s Eagle Ford area....
CAE INC., $14.58, Toronto symbol CAE, earned $42.0 million in its fiscal 2015 second quarter, which ended September 30, 2014. That’s up 9.9% from $38.2 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings rose at a slower rate of 6.7%, to $0.16 from $0.15, on more shares outstanding. These figures exclude earnings from CAE’s mining operations, which make simulators that train workers to operate underground trucks, loaders and drills. The company recently announced plans to sell this business, as weak commodity prices have prompted mining firms to cut spending on exploration and expansion projects. On this basis, the latest earnings matched the consensus estimate....
Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific stock investing advice as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week we offer you a report on one of the stocks profiled in these Q&A sessions. We give you Pat’s buy-hold-sell recommendation as well as his analysis of the stock. This is part of the specific buy, hold and sell advice we offer you in our daily posts. Every week you get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Best Canadian Stocks” on Tuesday, and “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday.
Recently an Inner Circle member asked us about Parkland Fuel, a company that sells gasoline and operates convenience stores through its own brands and under license to bigger companies like Imperial Oil. Parkland recently lost a major supply contract with Suncor Energy and Pat examines the company’s attempts to replace that business with new acquisitions. He also looks at the impact of lower oil prices on Parkland’s profits.
Q: Hi Pat: Could you give us an update on Parkland Fuels? They are continuing to make acquisitions, and the stock continues to rise. Would you consider it a buy now? Regards.
A: Parkland Fuel Corp. (symbol PKI on Toronto; www.parkland.ca) operates gas stations, convenience stores and a fuel distribution business, mostly in Western Canada and Ontario. It was called Parkland Income Fund before it converted to a dividend-paying corporation on December 31, 2010.
The company owns 144 rural gas stations and convenience stores. Brands include Fas Gas Plus, Race Trac Gas and Short Stop. Many of Parkland’s stations sell propane in addition to gasoline and diesel fuel. The company also operates Esso stations in Western Canada and Ontario under a licensing deal with Imperial Oil (symbol IMO on Toronto). It recently signed an agreement to use the Chevron brand in B.C.
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Recently an Inner Circle member asked us about Parkland Fuel, a company that sells gasoline and operates convenience stores through its own brands and under license to bigger companies like Imperial Oil. Parkland recently lost a major supply contract with Suncor Energy and Pat examines the company’s attempts to replace that business with new acquisitions. He also looks at the impact of lower oil prices on Parkland’s profits.
Q: Hi Pat: Could you give us an update on Parkland Fuels? They are continuing to make acquisitions, and the stock continues to rise. Would you consider it a buy now? Regards.
A: Parkland Fuel Corp. (symbol PKI on Toronto; www.parkland.ca) operates gas stations, convenience stores and a fuel distribution business, mostly in Western Canada and Ontario. It was called Parkland Income Fund before it converted to a dividend-paying corporation on December 31, 2010.
The company owns 144 rural gas stations and convenience stores. Brands include Fas Gas Plus, Race Trac Gas and Short Stop. Many of Parkland’s stations sell propane in addition to gasoline and diesel fuel. The company also operates Esso stations in Western Canada and Ontario under a licensing deal with Imperial Oil (symbol IMO on Toronto). It recently signed an agreement to use the Chevron brand in B.C.
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Five years ago, the old EnCana Corp. split itself into two new firms: the new Encana, which focuses on natural gas, and Cenovus Energy, which owns oil sands properties and refineries. Lower gas prices have cut Encana’s share price by 30% since the split. Due to the recent drop in oil prices, Cenovus’s stock has gained about 9% in the last five years. Energy prices could fall further, as new production techniques, particularly hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) and horizontal drilling, add to supplies. However, a colder-thannormal winter would boost oil and gas demand for heating....
CAE INC. $15 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 265.3 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) gets 55% of its revenue by selling flight simulators and pilot-training services to commercial airlines. Another 40% comes from simulators and training for military clients, mainly in the U.S. CAE gets the remaining 5% of its sales by making medical-simulation products, such as mannequins, for training nurses and medical students. Steady growth in revenue, earnings...
GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $33 (www.greatwestlifeco.com) earned $687 million, or $0.69 a share, in the three months ended September 30, 2014, up 31.4% from $523 million, or $0.52 a share, a year earlier....
Your surest route to investment success is to follow our three-pronged Successful Investor approach:
Of course, I still form opinions on which way the market and individual stocks are likely to move in coming months and years. Some of these opinions fall in the category of predictions—others are more like guesses.
From time to time I share these opinions with investors. Sometimes they turn out surprisingly accurate—other times, not so much. This has become a popular part of our service, so we highlight it under the heading “Guesses, Opinions & Predictions”.
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- Invest mainly in well-established, high-quality companies;
- Spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors;
- Downplay or avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight.
Of course, I still form opinions on which way the market and individual stocks are likely to move in coming months and years. Some of these opinions fall in the category of predictions—others are more like guesses.
From time to time I share these opinions with investors. Sometimes they turn out surprisingly accurate—other times, not so much. This has become a popular part of our service, so we highlight it under the heading “Guesses, Opinions & Predictions”.
...
PENGROWTH ENERGY $4.36 (Toronto symbol PGF; Shares outstanding: 528.1 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 11.0%; www.pengrowth.com) produces oil and natural gas in Western Canada and off the Nova Scotia coast. Gas accounts for 46% of its production; the other 54% is oil. In the three months ended September 30, 2014, Pengrowth produced 72,472 barrels a day (including gas), down 13.0% from 83,275 barrels a year earlier. That’s mainly because it sold several less important oil and gas properties in Western Canada. Pengrowth is investing the proceeds from these sales in more promising projects, like its Lindbergh oil sands development in Alberta’s Cold Lake region. Lindbergh should start up in early 2015 and produce 12,500 barrels a day. Future phases will raise the project’s daily output to 50,000 barrels....