Suncor speeds up cost cuts

Article Excerpt

SUNCOR ENERGY INC. $39 (Toronto symbol SU; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $58.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.suncor.com) produced 598,000 barrels a day in the first quarter of 2015, up 9.7% from 545,300 barrels a year earlier. The increase came from both its oil sands and conventional properties. The oil-price drop has prompted Suncor to cut its planned 2015 capital spending by $1 billion, to between $6.2 billion and $6.8 billion. It also laid off 1,000 workers, or 7% of its workforce. The company expects its job cuts and other cost controls to save it $600 million to $800 million in 2015, a year earlier than planned; Suncor’s cash flow was $9.1 billion in 2014. Suncor is a buy. buy…