Expect more share buybacks

Article Excerpt

SUNCOR ENERGY INC. $53 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol SU; Cyclical-Growth Payer Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $68.9 billion; Dividend yield: 4.1%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.suncor.com) is Canada’s largest integrated oil firm, with major projects in the Alberta oil sands. With the December 2023 payment, Suncor raised your quarterly dividend by 4.8%, to $0.545 a share from $0.52. The annual rate of $2.18 yields a high 4.1%. Suncor expects average production for 2024 to increase roughly 6%, to between 770,000 and 810,000 barrels a day. The company currently allocates 75% of its excess cash flow to share repurchases. Its net debt was $9.05 billion as of June 30, 2024. The rising production should soon cut its net debt to $8 billion. At that point, Suncor will earmark 100% of excess cash flow to share repurchases. In the second quarter of 2024, it repurchased $825 million of its stock. Suncor is a buy. buy…