Topic: How To Invest

Hi Pat: What is your opinion of Pacific Rubiales? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Pacific Rubiales, $13.56, symbol PRE on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 214.4 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion), is a Canadian-based oil and natural-gas producer. Pacific Rubiales owns 100% of Meta Petroleum Corp., a Colombian oil firm that operates the Quifa block in the country’s Llanos Basin in association with Ecopetrol S.A., the Colombian national oil company. Pacific Rubiales is focused on exploration and development, mainly within Colombia’s eastern Llanos Basin, as well as in other parts of Colombia and northern Peru. Pacific Rubiales currently produces 38,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, from working interests in 32 blocks in Colombia and Peru. The stock trades at 14.7 times this year’s forecast cash flow of $0.92 a share. But it trades at 5.5 times next year’s estimate of $2.45 a share. That’s when its output is forecast to rise significantly: by the end of the year, the company is expected to produce 80,000 barrels a day. Pacific Rubiales’ focus on Colombia adds political risk. But…