Cenovus hits its debt target

Article Excerpt

CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $24 is a buy. Canada’s third-largest oil producer (Toronto symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares o/s: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $45.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cenovus.com) reported that its net debt (total debt less cash balances) fell to $4.0 billion in July 2024 from $5.06 billion at the end of 2023. Under the company’s new shareholder return policy, once net debt falls to $4.0 billion, it will return 100% of its free cash flow (after capital expenditures) to shareholders in the form of higher dividends and share buybacks. That bodes well for more dividend hikes. With the June 2024 payment, Cenovus increased the quarterly dividend by 28.6%, to $0.18 a share from $0.14. The new annual rate of $0.72 yields 3.0%. The company also paid a variable dividend of $0.135 a share on May 31, 2024. Cenovus is a buy. buy. …