ECA is still a leader

Article Excerpt

ENCANA $6.96 (Toronto symbol ECA; Shares outstanding: 840.8 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Divd. yield: 1.2%; www.encana.com) continues to take steps to conserve cash while it waits for oil and gas prices to recover. Encana has cut its quarterly payout by 78.6%, to $0.015 a share from $0.07 (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). The stock now yields 1.2%. This should save the company $185 million a year. As well, Encana will spend $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion to expand and upgrade its properties in 2016, down about $600 million from 2015. Like most oil and gas stocks, Encana has dropped with prices for these commodities. Still, we recommend most investors keep some exposure to the Resources sector—and oil and gas stocks—as part of a well-balanced portfolio. The direction of oil and gas prices depends on a lot of things, particularly economic growth rates around the world. Meanwhile, though, leading firms in the industry, like…