ARC sharpens its focus

Article Excerpt

ARC RESOURCES $23.52 (Toronto symbol ARX; Shares outstanding: 352.1 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; Dividend yield: 2.6%; www.arcresources.com) produces oil and natural gas in Western Canada. ARC has now completed the sale of all of its properties in southeastern Saskatchewan for $700 million. The buyer is Spartan Energy (symbol SPE on Toronto). The sale cuts ARC’s average daily production by 7,500 barrels, or 6%. However, the proceeds of the sale—plus the company’s low debt—let it focus on its higher-return projects in northeastern B.C. ARC plans to spend $665 million on exploration and development in 2017. That’s up 47.8% from the $450 million it will spend in 2016. The stock trades at 9.8 times ARC’s forecast 2017 cash flow of $2.41 per share. That’s high, but not unreasonable for a company with strong long-term growth potential. ARC Resources is a buy. buy…