Topic: Growth Stocks

DEVON ENERGY CORP. $53.06 – New York symbol DVN

DEVON ENERGY CORP. $53.06 (New York symbol DVN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (405-235- 3611; www.dvn.com; Shares outstanding: 404.5 million; Market cap: $21.5 billion; Dividend yield: 1.5%) is one of the largest U.S.-based oil and natural gas explorers and producers. Its production mix is 63% gas and 37% oil.

Last year, Devon sold all of its international and Gulf of Mexico properties, which it saw as risky and expensive to develop. The company is now focused on its North American projects, which include conventional production, shale oil in Texas and oil sands in Alberta.

Devon is forming joint ventures to cut the risk of its big development projects. Earlier this year, it sold a one-third stake in shale oil and gas fields in five U.S. states to giant Chinese state-owned petroleum and chemical firm Sinopec for $2.2 billion. More recently, Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. agreed to buy 30% of the Cline and Wolfcamp shales in Texas for $1.4 billion.

Meanwhile, the company’s daily production averaged 678,200 barrels of oil equivalent in the three months ended September 30, 2012. That’s up 2.6% from a year earlier. Still, its cash flow per share declined 29.9%, to $3.16 from $4.51, due to lower natural gas prices.

Devon will spend as much as $7.5 billion to explore and develop its properties this year. The company’s $10.8-billion debt is a manageable 50.2% of its market cap. Moreover, it holds cash of $7.5 billion, or $18.50 a share.

The shares trade at 4.2 times Devon’s forecast 2012 cash flow of $12.64 a share, based on the latest quarter.

Devon Energy is a buy.

Comments

Tell Us What YOU Think

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Please be respectful with your comments and help us keep this an area that everyone can enjoy. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Terms of Use, please click here to report it to the administrator.