Apache’s cost-cutting will support dividend

Article Excerpt

APACHE CORP. $50 (New York symbol APA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 378.3 million; Market cap: $18.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.apachecorp.com) continues to sell overseas properties to focus on its less-risky onshore oil and gas operations here in North America. As a result, its production in 2015 fell 9.9%, to 486,775 barrels a day from 540,212 in 2014. Due to lower oil and gas prices, it lost $130 million, or $0.34 a share, in 2015 compared to a profit of $2.0 billion, or $5.21. The company plans to spend $1.4 billion to $1.8 billion on capital projects in 2016, down from $4.7 billion in 2015. That should let it continue to pay quarterly dividends of $0.25 a share, for an annualized yield of 2.0%. In 2015, dividend payments totaled $377 million. Apache is a hold. hold…