Timely buy for Ovintiv

Article Excerpt

OVINTIV INC., $64.14, is a buy. The energy producer (Toronto symbol OVV; Shares outstanding: 273.9 million; Market cap: $17.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 2.5%) recently paid private equity firm EnCap Investments L.P. $4.4 billion U.S. (73% in cash, 27% in shares) for 1,050 wells in the Permian basin. To help offset the cost, the company sold its holdings in the Bakken basin to EnCap for $706 million. The new assets helped lift Ovintiv’s production in the second quarter of 2023 by 14.6%, to 573,000 barrels a day (49% oil and liquids, 51% natural gas) from 500,000 a year earlier. However, its realized price per barrel for oil and gas (combined) fell 50.2%. As a result, the company’s cash flow per share fell 40.6%, to $2.79 from $4.70. Ovintiv Inc. is a buy. buy…