Topic: How To Invest

ENERPLUS CORP. $13.06 – Toronto symbol ERF

ENERPLUS CORP. $13.06 (Toronto symbol ERF; Shares outstanding: 205.4 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.6%) produces an average of 105,591 barrels of oil equivalent a day (56% gas and 44% oil). The company’s properties are mainly in Alberta, Saskatchewan, B.C., North Dakota and Montana, as well as the Marcellus shale, which passes through Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia.

In the quarter ended December 31, 2014, Enerplus’s production rose 12.1% from a year earlier. That increase, plus higher realized gas prices, pushed cash flow per share up 15.7%, to $1.03 from $0.89.

Like ARC, Enerplus will cut spending this year. Its outlays will now total $480 million, down 24.4% from its original estimate of $635 million and 40.8% from $811.0 million in 2014.

The lower spending, plus plans to produce less gas in the Marcellus shale until prices rise, will lower Enerplus’s forecast 2015 production to around 96,500 barrels of oil equivalent a day.

Enerplus is also cutting its monthly dividend by 44.4% with the April 2015 payment, to $0.05 from $0.09. The new rate gives the stock a yield of 4.6%.

The company is forecast to generate cash flow of $2.81 a share in 2015, based on today’s low oil and gas prices, down from $4.20 in 2014. The stock trades at a low 4.6 times this year’s estimate.

Enerplus Corp. is still a buy.

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