Low oil prices hurt Suncor

Article Excerpt

SUNCOR ENERGY INC. $44 (Toronto symbol SU; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $70.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.suncor.com) is Canada’s largest integrated oil company, with major projects in the Alberta oil sands. It also owns four refineries (three in Canada and one in Colorado), along with 1,500 Petro-Canada gas stations. The company’s average daily production in the quarter ended December 31, 2018, rose 12.8%, to 831,000 barrels from 736,400 a year earlier. The gain is due to the start-up of Suncor’s 54.11%-owned Fort Hills oil sands project as well as record production for its 58.74%-owned Syncrude facility. However, lower Canadian crude oil prices cut the company’s revenue in the quarter by 0.8%, to $8.95 billion from $9.01 billion. Cash flow dropped 33.5%, to $2.01 billion from $3.02 billion; cash flow per share declined 31.1%, to $1.26 from $1.83, on fewer shares outstanding. Despite the poor quarter, Suncor’s long-term outlook remains bright. It will…