IMO focuses on core assets

Article Excerpt

IMPERIAL OIL LTD., $56.91, is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 636.7 million; Market cap: $37.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 2.4%; www.imperialoil.ca) is Canada’s third-largest publicly traded oil company after Canadian Natural Resources (No. 1) and Suncor. U.S.-based ExxonMobil (New York symbol XOM) owns 69.6% of the company. Imperial and Exxon have now agreed to sell their 50/50 joint venture, XTO Energy Canada, to Whitecap Resources Inc. (Toronto symbol WCP). XTO produces oil and gas from properties in the Montney (B.C.) and Duvernay (Alberta) shale basins. The sale is aimed at letting Imperial and Exxon focus on their key oilsands assets. Imperial’s share of the $1.9 billion sale price for XTO is $940 million. The partners expect to complete the transaction by the end of this year. Imperial Oil is a buy. buy. …