Suncor builds on oil sands lead

Article Excerpt

Suncor’s shares rose from $35 after it merged with Petro-Canada in August 2009 to a peak of $46 in March 2011. After that, the stock fell and stayed between $30 and $35 for most of the past three years. That’s mainly due to setbacks at its Alberta oil sands operations, which pushed up its operating costs and forced it to write down some of its projects. The company has now solved many of these problems, which should improve its future earnings and cash flow. As well, its refineries in Eastern Canada are cutting their reliance on expensive imported crude. As a result, Suncor now has more cash for share buybacks and dividends. SUNCOR ENERGY INC. $43 (Toronto symbol SU; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $64.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.suncor.com) is Canada’s largest integrated oil company by market cap (or the value of all its outstanding shares). Suncor gets 40% of…