Pengrowth shifts away from gas

Article Excerpt

PENGROWTH ENERGY CORP. $8.41 (Toronto symbol PGF; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 364.5 million; Market cap: $3.1 billion; Price-to sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 10.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.pengrowth.com) reported that its daily production rose 2.7% in the three months ended March 31, 2012, to 75,618 barrels of oil equivalent from 73,634 a year ago. Because of depressed natural gas prices, the company is shifting its focus to oil, which accounted for 77% of its production compared with 61% a year earlier. Even with the higher production, weak gas prices and higher royalties cut Pengrowth’s cash flow by 22.6% in the quarter, to $113.6 million from $146.8 million a year earlier. Cash flow per share fell 31.1%, to $0.31 from $0.45, on more shares outstanding. However, the company’s high-quality western Canadian properties and its upcoming all-stock purchase of NAL Energy (Toronto symbol NAE) should let it take better advantage of high oil prices. Pengrowth is a buy. buy…