Baytex Energy Corp (BTE.TO)

Very well-run company. They will want to keep growing by buying more assets. Pretty high dividend of around 6%, which is enough to hold investors’ interest. A great story to own. Not cheap, but these stocks are never cheap.

Both Brent and West Texas crude have come back and are testing very important technical support. What matters more to a lot of Canadian companies generally is the spread between what we get for our oil, especially heavy crude and West Texas. It is always attractive to buy when the spread is wide and think about selling when the spread is narrow. They made a great acquisition in the Eagleford in Texas. It gives them great exposure to a great US play in light oil. Production profile looks really interesting. Pays an attractive yield that they can back up with production growth.

Thinks they raised money at $39.50 to buy Aurora in Texas. In retrospect it was a pretty good transaction. It took a little while for the street to appreciate how much free cash flow that asset will contribute over time. They have to spend a certain amount to maintain production and grow it a little, and all of the excess cash flow from Baytex can either be used to repay debt, which they don’t have a lot of, or they can use it to increase their dividend, or buy other acreage. Sold his holdings because it had regained the multiple it had. There is a new team, so there is a little bit of proving they have to do to the street. Trading at a multiple where people are already baking in extremely good operational success. On a relative valuation basis, he would prefer other names. If you own, it is a steady Eddie name, and you are looking at roughly 10%-12% total return.

A core holding for him. The acquisition they made makes sense. Thinks it is relatively early days.

Made an acquisition in the Eagleford, so she sold her holdings. Felt it was going outside their core competency, so she is going to wait on the sidelines. Wants to see a few quarters of operational success in the new play, just to make sure that everything is working properly.

We should get a seasonal boost now. He took profits, however. Prefers HSE-T, SU-T, and CNQ-T.

Scratched his head a little bit on their last acquisition in the Eagleford. They tend to pay out a fair bit, which he feels could pose some problems when they borrow or issue new shares. Feels there could be better companies out there. (See Top Picks.)

Has liked this company for a long time. Very predictable deposits. Heavier oil, but it flows and you don’t have to pump it that hard. Have also been very heads up in terms of using “oil by rail”. Have good connections in the US, and have been moving a fair amount of oil. Stock has always had a very good yield. Yield of almost 6%. Could see $52.58 in the next 12 months.

Energy sector has been on fire for the first part of this year. Most of the energy stocks have gone up in 2014. This is one of the group and you should stay with it.

A Cornerstone holding in his portfolio. A recent acquisition diversified the portfolio away from heavy oil. Sustainable dividend yield and he expects double digit growth going forward.

Largely a gas producer. Brought in partners from Asia to accelerate programs. People aren’t convinced they can have the same success they had on earlier wells, thinking costs could go up. If they show significant production growth quarter over quarter then they should do well.

Considers it as a Canadian blue-chip. Really well run primarily heavy oil producer. Recently made a really interesting acquisition, moving into the Eagleford Shale to produce light oil and some gas. Great, great assets. Stock is not cheap, but is one of these blue chips that does well for shareholders.

(A Top Pick June 3/13. Up 26.57%.) Energy space has acted a lot more positively in the last 12 months than it did in the previous 24. They did a large acquisition in the Eagleford in March. Good management team. Dividend of over 5%.

If you like this stock, you shouldn’t be overly concerned about short-term price movements. Somewhat higher than it was a year ago, but not a great deal in contrast to some other midsize oil/gas companies.

Sold a $42 October Put for $1.10 and also bought a $48 Call for $.50. Thoughts on the strategy? The strategy was synthetic Long positions, basically selling a Put and buying a Call. If you look at the performance of those 2 instruments based on the performance of the underlying stock, it would look very similar.