Bright future outshines a volatile present

Article Excerpt

PENGROWTH ENERGY $1.89 (Toronto symbol PGF; Shares outstanding: 547.4 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; No dividends paid; www.pengrowth.com) produces oil and natural gas, mostly in Western Canada. This includes its Lindbergh oil sands project in Alberta. In the three months ended June 30, 2016, the company’s average output was 56,735 barrels of oil equivalent per day (62% oil and 38% gas). That’s down 23.4% from 74,113 a year earlier. The decline came after Pengrowth sold some of its non-core properties to pay down debt. The production drop, plus lower oil and gas prices, pushed cash flow per share down 23.8%, to $0.16 from $0.21. On June 30, 2016, long-term debt stood at $1.5 billion (1.4 times market cap). That was down from $1.9 billion a year ago. In April 2015, Pengrowth started up its Lindbergh oil sands project in the Cold Lake area of Alberta. In the latest quarter, Lindbergh produced an average of 15,532 barrels a..