Topic: Growth Stocks

DEVON ENERGY CORP. $55.14 – New York symbol DVN

DEVON ENERGY CORP. $55.14 (New York symbol DVN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (405-235- 3611; www.dvn.com; Shares outstanding: 409.1 million; Market cap: $22.6 billion; Dividend yield: 1.7%) is one of the largest U.S.-based oil and natural gas explorers and producers. Its production mix is 48% gas and 52% oil.

In 2011, Devon sold all of its international and Gulf of Mexico properties, which it saw as risky and expensive to develop.

The company narrowed its focus even further with the July 2014 sale of some of its properties to Linn Energy for $2.3 billion. The sale included Devon’s holdings in the Rockies, the onshore Gulf Coast and the Mid-Continent region (which includes Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas).

The sale lets Devon focus on what it views as lowrisk/ high-reward properties, especially the oilproducing assets it bought in Texas’s Eagle Ford shale formation for $6 billion last year.

As well, 80% of the production from the properties Devon sold to Linn is natural gas, so the sale will let the company continue to shift its focus to oil from gas. Meanwhile, Devon’s daily output averaged 667,000 barrels of oil equivalent in the quarter ended June 30, 2014, down 4.4% from 698,000 a year earlier. The decline resulted from the sale of producing properties. Cash flow per share rose 4.2%, to $3.50 from $3.36, on increased oil and gas prices.

The company’s $11.9 billion of debt is a manageable 52.7% of its market cap. It also holds cash of $1.7 billion, or $4.16 a share.

The stock trades at just 3.9 times Devon’s annual cash flow of $14.00 a share, based on the latest quarter— although oil prices have weakened lately. The stock yields 1.7%.

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.