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.
This company transformed itself over the last couple of years. Unfortunately, it did it at a time when commodity prices were collapsing. 3 years ago, they bought Aurora and got into the Eagleford, one of the best development plays in the best area. Paid a pretty high price which hurt the balance sheet quite a bit. In the meantime, their Canadian heavy oil program was going on, the area that really got hurt when commodity prices collapsed, and ended up with a debt heavy balance sheet. They’ve done a lot to clean that up, and have just recently begun on the growth path by making an acquisition in Western Canada. There is a lot of “show me” that now needs to happen. It has become a play on commodity. There are better opportunities elsewhere.