Surprise costs Penn West 19%

Article Excerpt

PENN WEST $8.14 (Toronto symbol PWT; Shares outstanding: 492.6 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Divd. yield: 6.9%; www.pennwest.com) appointed former Suncor CEO Rick George as chairman in May 2013 to bring in much-needed measures to shore up its finances and boost its value. The company’s shares traded at $10 when George took over, down from a peak of $47 in 2006. The shares moved up to as high as $13.50 last year, but had moved back down to $10 in mid-July 2014. That’s when they dropped a further 19%, to today’s price, after the company announced it was re-examining its accounting practices going back several years. Penn West will now likely need to restate some of its past financial reports to account for problems that include understating operating costs by $181 million over the last two years. While the review may slow the company’s turnaround somewhat, its wide range of oil and gas properties and numerous drilling locations give it…