Birchcliff has more growth ahead

Article Excerpt

BIRCHCLIFF ENERGY $4.67 (Toronto symbol BIR; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-261-6401; www.birchcliffenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 263.0 million; Market cap: $1.3 billion; Dividend yield: 2.1%) explores for, develops and produces oil and gas, mainly in the Peace River Arch area of both Alberta and B.C. About 82% of its output is gas. The remaining 18% 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 March 31, 2018, Birchcliff’s cash flow per share rose 19.2%, to $0.31 from $0.26 a year earlier. The increase came from higher oil prices and daily production. Output rose to an average of 76,323 barrels of oil per day in the latest quarter. That was up 23.8% from 61,662 barrels a year earlier. Birchcliff spent about $276 million on exploration and development in 2017. That has decreased to $255 million for…