Oil prices spur Imperial

Article Excerpt

IMPERIAL OIL $39.87 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 831.2 million; Market cap: $33.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.9%; www.imperialoil.ca) is Canada’s second-largest publicly traded oil company, after Suncor. ExxonMobil (New York symbol OM) owns 69.6% of Imperial. The company’s shares are now up almost 20% in the last month. That’s after oil prices rose 10%, from $62 U.S. a barrel to today’s price, just under $68. Over the last year, Imperial’s share price has jumped 45%. The stock also moved up on the company’s latest results. For the three months ended March 31, 2018, Imperial’s cash flow rose 43.7%, to $1.1 billion, or $1.28 a share, from $743 million, or $0.87, a year earlier. As a result of strong cash flow, the company raised its quarterly dividend by 18.8% with the July 2018 payment, to $0.19 from $0.16. Its shares now yield 1.9%. Future gains for Imperial shares depend on several things, especially continuing economic growth worldwide. Meanwhile, though, we think a good way for…