Deal still on despite oil-rig explosion

Article Excerpt

APACHE CORP. $95 (New York symbol APA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 364.3 million; Market cap: $34.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.1; Dividend yield: 0.6%; WSSF Rating: Average) still plans to go ahead with its purchase of Mariner Energy Inc. (New York symbol ME), despite an explosion at one of Mariner’s offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The company is paying $2.7 billion in cash and stock for Mariner. Unlike the sinking of BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig last April, this explosion did not result in a major oil spill. Moreover, the damage will have little impact on Mariner’s production. Apache is a buy. buy…