Refineries make Chevron the better buy

Article Excerpt

The oil price drop has prompted these two producers to shed less profitable businesses. That brightens their long-term prospects, but we prefer Chevron, as its refineries benefit from cheaper crude. CHEVRON CORP. $110 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $209.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www. chevron.com) recently sold its 50% stake in Caltex Australia, which owns an oil refinery and 1,800 gas stations in Australia, for $3.6 billion. The deal is part of Chevron’s plan to sell $15 billion worth of nonessential businesses by 2017. Even with these sales, the company’s oil output will probably average 3.1 million barrels a day in 2017, up 20.6% from 2.57 million in 2014. That’s mainly because Chevron still plans to start up two big offshore gas projects: the Gorgon field, off Australia’s northwest coast (47.3% owned by Chevron) and the nearby Wheatstone field (64.14%-owned). Each will also…