New strategy benefits Encana

Article Excerpt

ENCANA CORP. $26 (Toronto symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 740.9 million; Market cap: $19.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 1.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.encana.com) has agreed to buy shale oil properties in the Eagle Ford area of southern Texas for $3.1 billion (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). A separate deal to sell natural gas fields in eastern Texas for $530 million will help pay for this purchase. Including Eagle Ford, Encana now has six core properties. The other five are: Montney (B.C.), Duvernay (Alberta), DJ Basin (Colorado), San Juan Basin (New Mexico) and the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (Louisiana). All of these areas contain large amounts of oil and natural gas liquids, such as butane and propane. That cuts Encana’s exposure to weak gas prices. The stock is up 35% since Encana said it would expand its oil production in November 2013. Even so, it trades at a moderate 7.2 times the…