IMO’s expansion pays off

Article Excerpt

IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $43.70 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares o/s: 802.7 million; Market cap: $34.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.7%; www.imperialoil.ca) has already seen the benefits of recent expansions at its Kearl oil sands property. It’s also doing a good job of controlling its operating costs. This strong performance pushed up its cash flow in the latest quarter by 187.5%, to $0.69 a share from $0.24. It’s also letting it increase its quarterly dividend by 18.8%, to $0.19 a share from $0.16. The new annual rate of $0.76 yields 1.7%. The company has now increased the annual dividend rate each year for the past 23 years. The stock trades at an attractive 7.4 times Imperial’s forecast 2018 cash flow of $5.92 a share. Imperial Oil is a buy. buy…