Stock price when the opinion was issued
Oil prices weak recently, generally gets a little firmer coming into winter. Lots of Middle East conflict. US energy producers in general have performed much worse than Canadian, partly because of debate on whether shale can sustain production.
Longer term, the sector is attractive and these companies will generate a ton of cash and strong dividend growth. Near-term technical questions. He'd love to see price of oil stabilize. It has in last couple of days, but that's geopolitically driven.
Good business. Alberta oil sands are low cost, long life, low decline. Refineries. Integrated, with benefit being that it takes the raw edge off commodity price sensitivity. Owns this indirectly through the back door, with an investment in XOM (major shareholder of IMO).
Modestly bullish on oil. Not his first choice, but no quarrels with it either.
(Note the short timeframe.) This is a swing trade. Looking at the chart, you can see how the stock likes to go down to $90-ish, and then go up to $100-ish. That's 10% that you can trade and trade. He always buys on the bounce.
He feels that all oil will break out eventually. He's hoping to get $100 on this, though it's pulled back a bit. If it gets there, he'll probably sell and then get back in if it returns to the bottom. If it doesn't, his buy price was close to the bottom so he isn't losing anything.
Performed very well. Aggressively buying back stock. Trades at a deserved premium. But today he'd prefer CNQ. Good tax-loss candidate. Very strong balance sheet. FCF today is not what it was.