Imperial Oil is a low-risk buy

Article Excerpt

Imperial Oil’s large oil and gas reserves should last for decades. But the company also owns four refineries that convert crude oil into gasoline and other fuels. Imperial also operates 1,900 Esso gas stations. This diversification helps shield the company from volatile oil and gas prices. Moreover, Imperial focuses on politically stable North America. That makes it an ideal resource stock for safety-conscious investors. IMPERIAL OIL $51.49 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $43.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 0.9%; www.imperialoil.ca) is Canada’s largest integrated oil company. Imperial earned $0.95 a share in the three months ended December 31, 2010. That’s up 50.8%, from $0.63 a share a year earlier. The rise was mainly the result of higher oil and gas prices, and improved profits at Imperial’s refineries. Revenue rose 18.2%, to $6.9 billion from $5.9 billion. The company’s production is set to rise in the long term, thanks to its new oil-sands projects, including the $8-billion Kearl project,…