Buy Crescent Point, hold on to Penn West

Article Excerpt

CRESCENT POINT ENERGY CORP. $36.81 (Toronto symbol CPG; Shares outstanding: 377.5 million; Market cap: $13.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 7.5%; www.crescentpointenergy.com) produces oil and natural gas in western Canada. Its production is weighted 90% toward oil and 10% to gas. The company continues to focus on its Bakken light-oil development in southeastern Saskatchewan. In the three months ended December 31, 2012, Crescent Point’s cash flow rose 12.7%, to $430.4 million from $381.9 million a year earlier. The company raised its production by 33.0%, to 108,007 barrels of oil equivalent (including gas) from 81,210 a year earlier. That was the main reason for the higher cash flow. Cash flow per share fell 10.6%, to $1.18 from $1.32, because Crescent Point issued new shares to pay for acquisitions. Crescent Point spent about $3 billion purchasing other companies in 2012. These deals included the late-2012 purchase of Ute Energy for $861 million U.S. Ute added 8,000 barrels of oil per…