Big acquisition improves Chevron’s outlook

Article Excerpt

Oil giant Chevron recently won U.S. regulatory approval for its deal to buy smaller rival Hess Corp. While expanding by acquisition adds risk, the new operations will add several promising properties to Chevron’s reserves. The extra cash flow will also let the oil giant keep raising your dividend—something it’s done each of the past 37 years. CHEVRON CORP. $144 is a buy. The company (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $259.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 4.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.chevron.com) is the second-largest integrated oil producer in the U.S. by revenue after ExxonMobil (New York symbol XOM). Producing oil and natural gas supplied 89% of Chevron’s earnings in the latest quarter. The remaining 11% came mainly from refineries and supplying fuel to 8,300 retail gas stations in the U.S. Chevron’s revenue fell 35.4%, from $146.52 billion in 2019 to $94.69 billion in 2020 on falling oil demand and prices during the COVID-19 lockdowns. As the…