It lets you tap an energy rebound

Article Excerpt

BIRCHCLIFF ENERGY, $3.00, is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol BIR; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (www.birchcliffenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 266.0 million; Market cap: $776.8 million; Dividend yield: 0.7%) explores for and produces oil and gas. Its average output of 78,649 barrels of oil equivalent per day is 76% natural gas and 24% oil. While cash flow in the quarter ended December 31, 2020, fell 16.7%, to $0.25 per share from $0.30 a year earlier, it nonetheless remained positive. The drop reflects lower oil prices, which were partly offset by a 0.9% rise in output. The company’s long-term debt stands at $731.4 million, or a high but manageable 94% of its market cap. Meanwhile, Birchcliff can borrow up to $1 billion, and it has no debt maturities until May 11, 2022. Like all natural-gas-weighted producers, the company will need oil prices to move higher for it to report rising cash flow. However, we still like the long-term prospects for investors. Energy stocks are moving up lately, and Birchcliff shares have almost…