Opinions
Keith Richards
Canadian Natural Rsrcs
CNQ-T
SELL
Mar 12, 2025
Stock price when the opinion was issued
You might be interested:
We would be fine buying, though we do not think it would need to be all at once. We would focus on CNQ, SU, TOU for producers.
Unlock Premium - Try 5i Free
The only oil stock he owns. Earnings this morning were pretty good. Cyclical business, but has never cut dividend. Well run, low-cost producer. Good upside and good downside protection.
One of the great energy companies in NA, great runway. Long-life reserves. Will be in decent shape even if oil prices soften; break-even is ~$40 WTI. Yield is 5+%.
He owns a lot of shares. It's sold off because Canada is for sale since January due to Trump tariffs; energy is for sale again because of oil tariffs; CNQ is exposed to these factors. US shale production is peaking in the next 2 years, as will non-OPEC supply growth. So, there will be massive demand for companies with deep reserves as the demand for oil grows. It trades at 6.4x cash flow at $70 oil, an 11% free cash flow yield; and a 9% cash return (dividend + share buybacks). This is massively oversold.
Concerns about economy, sentiment around energy stocks is lower, oil prices are weak as well. He sold. Long-term, makes sense to own oil and energy. 200-day MA is flat, trending slightly down. Price now below 200-day. Down 26-27% from recent highs. Technicals don't look great. Yield is ~5.65%.
SU is the only true energy name in his portfolio.
Loves it as one of the biggest oil & gas producers. Strong mix of crude, nat gas, and synthetic oil. Production set to grow 12% in 2025. Counting on new Trans Mountain to boost profit. 9/10 on value, 8/10 on fundamentals. US tariffs are a risk, along with unpredictable oil prices.
Paying down debt, strong balance sheet. Chevron assets expected to add nicely to FCF profile. Solid pick for steady cashflow. Yield is 5.5%, reliable.
If she could make this a Top Pick again, she would. Very high conviction on its future. Premier oil company at a discounted price. One of the best management teams in the world. Premier assets and cost structure. Consistently good acquisitions at a good price that are accretive. Strong record of share buybacks and dividend increases.
Revenues are slightly down YOY, but that's a function of oil prices being down. Likes the 60/40 mix of gas to oil.
Core holding, along with SU and TOU. Of oil & gas, gas is probably the better bet right now with LNG coming onstream. Trump says a lot of things and, on the broken-clock theory, some of it may be accurate. But you can't just turn on the tap.
Considerable underinvestment in oil for a while, particularly in Canada. PM Carney is no particular friend of the sector. If onshoring of all this production comes back to America, they're going to have to power it somehow. And there won't be enough windmills, nuclear plants, or solar panels to do it.
He sold a little while ago, and here's why. Chart shows it moving up, and then it consolidated (which he's fine with). Old resistance became new support. Then all of a sudden it broke down. He gave it a couple of weeks, then sold.