Strategic asset sales help them cut debt

Article Excerpt

ENERPLUS CORP. $15.03 (Toronto symbol ERF; Shares outstanding: 244.7 million; Market cap: $3.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; Dividend yield: 1.0%) produces oil and gas from properties in Western Canada—Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C.—as well as North Dakota and Montana. The company also has properties in the Marcellus Shale. That rock formation runs through Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia. Enerplus’s output rose slightly in the latest quarter, to an average of 85,080 barrels of oil equivalent per day (51% gas and 49% oil) from 84,937 a year earlier. Cash flow jumped 29.4%, to $155.2 million, or $0.64 a share, from $119.9 million, or $0.50, a year earlier. The big increase came mostly from higher oil prices. The company’s realized oil price rose 21.1%, to $69.67 U.S. per barrel from $57.53. On December 31, 2017, Enerplus’s long-term debt stood at $660.0 million, or a manageable 18% of its market cap. That’s down from $1.2 billion at the start of 2016. The company also has cash of…