Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO)

Acquired the oil sands and deep basin assets from ConocoPhillips last week, and doubled the size of the company. Acquired about 300,000 barrels a day of production. However, it is an $18 billion deal, and the market didn’t react very well, probably on concerns of balance sheet risks. Although constructive on Canadian energy, this would not be his preferred choice in the space.

It is a big transaction. If you liked it before this deal then you have to like it now. They doubled the size of their production. They are responsible for the weakness in energy today. It is probably a buy right now. It was short prior to this (16 million) but some are probably recovering now. Since the transaction, the index funds will have to own 20% more of this stock.

She does not want to own it. The balance sheet does not look all that healthy. There may be lots of opportunity to own it over the next 6-12 months.

They are doing an equity issue and it is priced about 8% below the close today. He thinks we will see oil prices lower as inventories build. We are starting to see a trend of foreign companies selling off their oil sands assets.

A good company to be invested in at this time. She likes the prospects in the $60 plus range. They have a lot of torque to the upside. They may do something with their cash on hand and that could be a catalyst. They have a pretty solid balance sheet.

This is a good company. There is nothing wrong from a fundamental perspective. Good management and good assets. We are in a range bound market, and this is going to be a company that is stuck. It doesn’t have any identifiable catalyst for the upside, but it isn’t a bad company.

Oil is recovering, although in fits and starts. This is a well-run integrated oil producer. He would favour Suncor (SU-T) given the longer reserve life and the better assets as well as the downstream operations. However, he wouldn’t have tremendous concerns with this company.

(A Top Pick Feb 29/16. Up 17.19%.) Low cost oil sands producer. A lot of US investors are more enamored with near-term production growth that might come from some of the shale producers in the US, but they are ultimately going to find that decline rates are going to hurt and they’ll have to replace the reserves. This company’s oil reserves are almost infinite.

(Market Call Minute.) Not a lot of upside. They have good projects, but there is not a lot of big torque in the projects to get you excited. You won’t go wrong Holding this though.

(A Top Pick Oct 8/15. Down 6.95%.) During this last year, it actually reached $14.50, so it has had a nice recovery. This outperformed when oil companies were getting creamed, because it had the best balance sheet. The attraction is that they have good growth coming. They expand their SAGD operations in the oil sands in chunks, so he believes they have 2, maybe 3 50,000 barrel chunks they can do over the next 3 years or so.

Companies in the oil sands are not exactly favourites in the market these days, and yet here is a company that really seems to have their heads around what they are doing. They have huge interests, not only in the oil sands, but in a couple of refineries as well. Has a very pristine balance sheet. They are probably one of the lower cost producers in their area. Good management and good balance sheet. Dividend yield of 1.08%.

He would classify this as a “hold”, but has a 2-3 year timeframe in mind. You need higher prices. The company has done a good job in putting its balance sheet back in shape. It is a relatively low cost operator in the SAGD area. He likes this on a longer-term basis, but currently it is not one of his favourites.

(Market Call Minute.) He would sell this and short it. The stock is overvalued.

Thinks the long range outlook for this is quite good. Had some problems recently. In the Foster Creek assets, the production levels quarter after quarter have disappointed a little. Cut the dividend almost 70%. Also, reining in a lot of head office spending. Could see them having a compound annual growth rate in production pushing 8% over 2018-2020. This would be a long term hold. Dividend yield of about 1%.

(Top Pick Jan 16/15, Down 34.60%) There has been a lot of news on operating inefficiencies, but they have corrected those. Their oil sands costs are the lowest of their peers. The dividend cuts were hard to take, though. He sticks with a company for the long term and takes opportunities to average down. He thinks the dividend will increase when oil prices recover.