Three Oil & Gas Trusts to Buy Now

Article Excerpt

Oil and gas trusts are mostly down lately, along with crude oil and natural gas prices. These three trusts are now cheap in relation to their forecast 2009 cash flows, which are based on those lower oil and gas prices. ZARGON ENERGY TRUST $14.87 (Toronto symbol ZAR.UN; SI Rating: Speculative) (403-264-9992; www.zargon.ca; Units outstanding: 18.4 million; Market cap: $274.1 million) has oil and gas production assets in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota. Output is weighted 53% toward natural gas and 47% to oil. In the three months ended September 30, 2008, Zargon’s production rose 9.9%, to 9,340 barrels of oil equivalent per day, from 8,501 barrels. Zargon’s $75-million debt is low, at around 27% of market cap. The trust’s monthly distribution of $0.18 gives the units a yield of 14.5%. Zargon flows just 47% of its cash flow through to its unitholders, so a distribution cut is unlikely, even if oil and gas prices remain low. Zargon’s cash flow for 2009 is forecast at…