Oil sands focus paying off for Suncor

Article Excerpt

SUNCOR ENERGY INC. $30 (Toronto symbol SU; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $48.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.suncor.com) became Canada’s largest integrated oil company in 2009, when it merged with Petro-Canada. Suncor gets 60% of its production from its oil sands projects in Alberta. The remaining 40% comes from conventional oil and natural gas properties. It also operates four refineries and 1,500 gas stations under the Petro-Canada banner. Hedging delayed merger benefits Suncor’s revenue rose 91.7%, from $14.8 billion in 2006 to $28.4 billion in 2008, mainly due to rising oil prices. However, revenue fell 12.6%, to $24.8 billion, in 2009. Hedging contracts forced Suncor to sell its oil below the market price, which offset the extra production from Petro-Canada. In 2010, revenue rose 38.2%, to $34.4 billion. Earnings rose from $2.53 a share (or a total of $2.4 billion) in 2006 to $2.63 a share (or $2.8 billion) in 2007. Earnings…