Imperial is still our top oil pick

Article Excerpt

Imperial Oil has already seen the benefits of recent expansions at its Kearl oil sands property. The company is also doing a good job of controlling its operating costs. Still, its focus on Canada adds risk. Specifically, a lack of new pipeline capacity continues to depress prices for Canadian producers compared to the crude prices for producers in the U.S. and other countries. Even so, Imperial’s higher production and improved efficiency should give it more cash for share buybacks and dividends. IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $38 (Toronto symbol IMO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Shares outstanding: 802.7 million; Market cap: $30.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.imperialoil.ca) is Canada’s third-largest publicly traded oil company, after Suncor (No. 1) and Canadian Natural Resources. U.S.-based ExxonMobil (New York symbol XOM) owns 69.6% of Imperial. About 60% of the company’s production comes from its Alberta oil sands operations; they include its 25% stake in the Syncrude project. Suncor now owns 58.74% of Syncrude, but Imperial…