Stock price when the opinion was issued
Huge disappointment, not operationally but on the share price. Typifies an out-of-favour stock: Canadian mid-cap with hair on it. Last quarter had no hair, beat expectations, paid down debt, generated lots of free cash, bought back stock. Deep value, mispriced, too cheap to sell. He's waiting, but patience is being tested.
Oil is down, which doesn't help. The budget shows a slight decline in production from year end exit rates, so investors may be worried that all the spending ($1.2B) is not going to boost actual average production rates. BTE also updated its five-year plan, which looks OK to us with a planned reduction in debt. But the sector remains out of favour overall right now.
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They executed in their drilling. There's been huge multiple contraction among small/mid-caps. He exited around $3.85-3.90. Shares are in an air pocket now, falling on no natural buyers (energy is out of favour). Stock is cheap, given cash flow. They pay half that cash to buy back shares. Are better stocks than this, but wouldn't rule out buying this again.
Historically, this has been a heavy oil producer. It has bought more heavy oil assets recently. Heavy oil trades at a discount to regular crude oil, because of processing. This is a call on if you think the price of oil is going higher. They still have some debt that they have to pay down. If oil goes to $70-$80, this company will do very well. In the $55-$60 range, there is not a lot of upside.