Cost cuts are paying off

Article Excerpt

PARAMOUNT RESOURCES $6.87 (Toronto symbol POU; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-290-3600; www.paramountres.com; Shares outstanding: 130.9 million; Market cap: $943.2 million; No dividends paid) owns oil and gas properties in Alberta and B.C. The company cut development spending to conserve cash due to low oil and gas prices. The move reduced output in the latest quarter by 3.8% to an average 81,296 barrels a day. That’s down from 84,495 barrels a year earlier. Even so, the cost cuts pushed up its cash flow per share by 5.5%, to $0.77 from $0.73. Paramount’s long-term debt of $827.3 million is a high 88% of its currently depressed market cap. However, it just sold some processing assets for $330 million to pay down that debt. Paramount Resources is a buy. buy…