Birchcliff is the better buy right now

Article Excerpt

BIRCHCLIFF ENERGY $4.82 (Toronto symbol BIR; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-261-6401; www.birchcliffenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 263.0 million; Market cap: $1.3 billion; Dividend yield: 2.0%) explores for, develops and produces oil and gas, mainly in the Peace River Arch area of both Alberta and B.C. About 80% of its output is gas. The remaining 20% is oil. In July 2016, the company bought Encana Corp.’s Gordondale natural gas fields in B.C. for $612.3 million in cash. The deal was big for Birchcliff: Gordondale expanded its overall production by more than 50%. In the three months ended June 30, 2018, Birchcliff’s cash flow per share fell 18.2%, to $0.27 from $0.33 a year earlier. The decrease came from lower gas prices, which offset the higher daily production. Output rose to an average of 76,296 barrels of oil per day in the latest quarter. That was up 18.0% from 64,636 barrels a year earlier. Birchcliff spent about $276 million on exploration and development in 2017. That has decreased to $255 million for…