Sale raises more cash for Encana

Article Excerpt

ENCANA CORP. $20 (Toronto symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 736.3 million; Market cap: $14.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.encana.com) has agreed to sell some of its natural gas properties in northern Texas for $975 million (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). To put that in context, Encana earned $171 million, or $0.23 a share, in the three months ended September 30, 2011. The sale is part of Encana’s ongoing plan to focus on its main properties in Alberta, B.C., Wyoming, Colorado and Louisiana. Including this sale, Encana has sold $1.7 billion of properties in 2011. That’s within its target of $1 billion to $2 billion. Encana is a buy. buy…