Imperial is a top oil stock

Article Excerpt

IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $21.84, is a buy for safety-conscious investors. The stock (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares o/s: 734.1 million; Market cap: $16.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 4.0%; www.imperialoil.ca) lets you tap Canada’s third-largest publicly traded oil producer, after Suncor (No. 1) and Canadian Natural Resources. ExxonMobil (symbol XOM) owns 69.6% of Imperial. In the quarter ended March 31, 2020, Imperial produced an average of 419,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (93% oil, 7% natural gas). That’s up 14.2% from 353,000 a year earlier. It also reflects record production at the Kearl oil sands project in northern Alberta. Despite the higher output, falling oil prices cut Imperial’s cash flow per share by 55.8%, to $0.57 from $1.29. Still, oil prices are moving up as OPEC producers and others cut supply because of reduced global demand due to COVID-19. We feel oil prices will continue to move higher as more countries reopen their economies. That’s a big plus for Imperial and helps…