Well-managed producers with gains ahead

Article Excerpt

The long-term outlook for oil and natural gas is positive, although in the short term, shale oil and gas discoveries continue to rapidly increase supply. That’s keeping prices low—and pushing down the shares of producers. We advise against overindulging in any one sector. However, we do think most safety-conscious investors should stick with the oil and gas buys we recommend, including ARC Resources and Enerplus. ARC RESOURCES $25.67 (Toronto symbol ARX; Shares outstanding: 308.9 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; Dividend yield: 4.7%; www.arcresources.com) produces oil and gas in western Canada. Its average daily production of 95,725 barrels of oil equivalent is weighted 61% to gas and 39% to oil. In the three months ended December 31, 2012, ARC’s cash flow per share fell 13.9%, to $0.68 from $0.79. Production rose 4.0%, but that was offset by a 3.2% decline in gas prices. The company’s long-term debt is $747.7 million, or a low 9.5% of its market cap…