APA boosts output to meet demand

Article Excerpt

APA CORP. $33 remains a hold. The company (New York symbol APA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 363.3 million; Market cap: $12.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.apacorp.com) produces oil and natural gas in the U.S., Egypt and the U.K. APA operates in Egypt though a joint venture with Chinese oil company Sinopec (APA owns two-thirds of this business). This venture recently signed a new production-sharing contract with the Egyptian government, which fixes its share of the profits at 30% compared to between 20% and 30% under the old deal. As a result, the partners expect to increase production by 13% to 15% in 2022. The extra production will help APA take advantage of rising crude demand and prices as the global economy continues to re-open. However, the company’s long-term debt of $7.16 billion (as of September 30, 2021) is a high 60% of its market cap. That adds risk, particularly as interest rates are set to move up…