Cenovus continues to pay down debt

Article Excerpt

CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $10 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $20.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield 0.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.cenovus.com) completed its acquisition of rival oil producer Husky Energy Inc. (Toronto symbol HSE) on January 1, 2021. The combined firm is now Canada’s third-largest producer of oil and natural gas. Cenovus still expects the merger with Husky to cut $1 billion from its annual costs. Combined with its previous cost-cutting plan, the company expects to save $1.2 billion in 2021. Those savings are helping to pay down the loans the company needed to buy Husky. Cenovus aims to cut its debt (net of cash held) from $12.4 billion as of June 30, 2021, to $10.0 billion by the end of the year. It also plans to spend between $2.3 billion and $2.7 billion on new projects and upgrades in 2021. Cenovus is a buy. buy…