Two picks for the coming gas boom

Article Excerpt

Rising production of shale gas continues to depress prices. However, new projects would let producers ship more of their surplus gas overseas, where prices can be two or more times higher than in North America. As well, many utilities are converting their plants to burn gas instead of coal. Here are two high-quality stocks in a strong position to take advantage of these trends. ENCANA CORP. $20 (Toronto symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 736.3 million; Market cap: $14.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.encana.com) earned $997 million, or $1.35 a share (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars) in 2012. That’s down 16.3% from $1.2 billion, or $1.62 a share, in 2011. Cash flow per share fell 16.1%, to $4.80 from $5.72. Revenue declined 39.1%, to $5.2 billion from $8.5 billion. That’s partly because it sold $4.0 billion of assets in 2012, including stakes in its shale…