Rising output in store for these producers

Article Excerpt

PEYTO EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT CORP. $15.65 (Toronto symbol PEY; Shares outstanding: 164.6 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 8.4%; www.peyto.com) produces and explores for oil and natural gas in Alberta. Its production is 91% gas and 9% oil. In the quarter ended September 30, 2017, the company’s output rose 5.8%, to 101,951 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 96,365 a year earlier. Cash flow rose 9.0%, to $0.85 a share from $0.78. Higher oil prices contributed to the gain. Peyto plans to spend $450 million on exploration in 2018, down 15.1% from $530 million in 2017. Still, that spending, plus ongoing drilling success, should let the company end 2018 with an average output of 120,000 barrels a day. The company’s long-term debt stands at $1.2 billion, or a manageable 46% of its market cap. Peyto trades at just 4.1 times the forecast 2018 cash flow of $3.79 per share. Its shares yield a very high 8.4%, but the…