Birchcliff Energy rewards its shareholders

Article Excerpt

Oil and gas stocks have moved up lately as the U.S. and other economies recover. Birchcliff Energy shares have almost tripled over the last year. Still, the shares remain cheap for investors looking to profit from the continuing energy rebound. BIRCHCLIFF ENERGY, $10.72, is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol BIR; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (Shares o/s: 265.9 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion; Dividend yield: 0.8%) reports that its cash flow in the quarter ended September 30, 2022, jumped 60.3%, to $1.01 a share from $0.63 a year earlier. The gain reflects much higher oil and gas prices. The company’s long-term debt now stands at just $197.0 million, or a low 7% of its market cap. That’s down from $500.1 million at the start of this year. Now that debt is substantially lower, the company paid a special dividend of $0.20 a share to its shareholders on October 28, 2022. That’s in addition to its regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.02 a share. Like all natural-gas-weighted producers, the company…