Ovintiv (OVV-T)

Natural gas (59%) play in the US. Went off the radar of Canadian investors. Good deal here. Q1 free cashflow beat by 16%, lower operating expenses, modestly higher liquids. Buybacks. At 3.8x, cheaper than peers at 5.5x. Decent production, flat cashflow per share. Balance sheet a bit more indebted than peers.

They refocused operations on the Montney and are pushing strong into the US (Utah, the Permian Basis). It's been rangebound like all energy stocks since 2022, but the free cash-flow yield is a high 15%. They have quality assets, but are in no-man's land (changing the company name and pushing in the US) and not a focus for Canadian energy investor and lacks the scale of US peers. That said, is a good operator run by a good CEO. Not his preferred energy name.

As a predictive question it is of course difficult. OVV is quite cheap and producing nice free cash flow. Positive momentum has returned to the sector. It has room for further dividend hikes. We would be comfortable holding for a while. 
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Well run company with strong management team. Large asset base in shale plays. Excellent return on capital. Expecting further growth in energy sector. Business generating large amounts of cash flow. Would recommend buying. 

Not a great company to own in the energy space.
Value trap where you can get better assets.
Lean on inventory with weak prospects.

The former Encanna moved to the US. It was a disappointment to the market. During the pandemic they decided to move it to the US from where the new CEO was managing the assets. See his top picks today. It would be okay to own this as a short term play.

Are their Nova Scotia assets holding back share price? It's very much a U.S. company now and are doing well. They're one of the best producers in the Permian Basin. Has good growth ahead. Pays a modest dividend though the PE is reasonable. Their offshore Nova Scotia assets are hard to read.

VET vs OVV? They are both stocks he would not own. OVV participated well on expected index buying in the US, but they are no longer able to attract US investors based on their share price. It is a non-starter for sure. VET cut the dividend and they changed management, but it will be a long road. They can't sell assets to help reduce debt and they can't raise the dividend. They are in far too many geographical areas and he thinks they have lost focus.