Devon narrows its focus

Article Excerpt

DEVON ENERGY CORP. $67.87 (New York symbol DVN; SI Rating: Speculative) (405-235-3611; www.devonenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 444.1 million; Market cap: $30.1 billion; Dividend yield 0.9% ) plans to sell its properties in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as its international assets. After taxes, Devon expects the sales to generate between $4.5 billion and $7.5 billion. The properties make up about 7% of its proven reserves of 2.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent. But they are high-risk and costly to develop, and they consume over 30% of Devon’s spending. Their potential is huge, but they would take many years and billions of dollars more to develop. The sales will let Devon focus on its onshore North American properties. Apart from conventional production, these include shale oil in Texas and oil sands in Canada. The company also plans to cut its debt from $5.8 billion to as low as $2.5 billion. Devon Energy is still a buy. buy…