Their stronger balance sheets cut your risk

Article Excerpt

In addition to Suncor (see page 41), we also like the outlook for these three oil producers. Like Suncor, they have used their stronger cash flows in the past few years to pay down debt. That is giving them more room for dividend increases and share buybacks. IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $101 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol IMO; Conservative and Income Growth Portfolios, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 604.8 million; Market cap: $61.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.imperialoil.ca) gets about 90% of its production from oil sands operations in Alberta. Those include its main Cold Lake and Kearl oil sands properties, as well as its 25.0% stake in the Syncrude joint venture with Suncor. It also has conventional oil and natural gas operations in the West and holds stakes in projects off the coast of Atlantic Canada. The company’s other operations include three refineries (one in Alberta and two in Ontario) and a petrochemical plant in Sarnia, Ontario. ExxonMobil…