RDS

Saudi Arabia Attacked, Oil Prices Shoot Higher

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Image Shown: Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure was attacked over the weekend, causing WTI and Brent to rally at the start of the trading session. By Callum Turcan Disaster struck this weekend when several drones took out the Abqaiq oil processing facility and the massive onshore Khurais oil field in Saudi Arabia (KSA) on Saturday, with WTI and Brent both surging on the news once trading resumed at the start of the week. The Khurais oil field produces around 1.5 million barrels of crude per day and the Abqaiq oil processing facility is the largest in the world. Saudi Arabia’s oil production capacity was reduced by 5.7 million barrels of crude per day due to these attacks and the country is … Read more

BP Says Goodbye to Alaska After 60 Years

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Image Source: BP plc – IR Presentation By Callum Turcan On August 27, BP plc (BP) announced it was selling its entire Alaskan operations to privately held Hilcorp Alaska (an affiliate of Hilcorp Energy Company) for $5.6 billion. BP sold Hilcorp some of its Alaskan assets five years ago and both companies have had a working relationship since then. This truly marks the end of an era as BP was long a staple of Alaska’s oil & gas industry. BP operates the Prudhoe Bay oil field, one of the largest in the world, which was responsible for over half of Alaska’s oil production in 2018. Additionally, BP is a major shareholder in the company that owns the 800-mile long Trans … Read more

Oil Major Second-Quarter 2019 Earnings Roundup

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Image Source: Exxon Mobil Corporation – IR Presentation By Callum Turcan Earnings Coverage by Ticker: BP, COP, CVX, RDS.A/RDS.B, TOT, XOM Let’s look at the Oil Majors that have recently reported earnings. BP’s Upstream Operational Execution Remains Strong On July 30, BP plc (BP) reported non-GAAP flat year-over-year underlying replacement cost profit of $2.8 billion in the second quarter of 2019. Marginal reductions in operating income from its upstream and downstream segments were offset by a reduction in corporate-level expenses. BP owns a 19.75% stake in Rosneft (OJSCY) which saw earnings move lower in the second quarter by an estimated ~25%. Unlike its peers who generally reported significant weakness at their downstream operations (refining, petrochemicals, marketing, and retail operations), BP’s … Read more

Chevron’s Permian Opportunity, Outsize Dividend Yield

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Image Source: Chevron Corporation – IR Presentation By Callum Turcan Last year, the storied energy giant Chevron Corporation (CVX) produced 2.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day on average and the company ended 2018 with 12.1 billion BOE in proved reserves on a net basis. Chevron’s upstream production base climbed by 13% from 2016 to 2018 while its proved reserves increased 8% during this period, led by growth at its Permian Basin operations. Management intends on growing Chevron’s downstream presence to support rising Permian crude oil volumes. We would like to draw attention to Chevron’s Permian operations as we see that having an outsized influence on its growth trajectory. Shares of CVX yield 3.8% as of this writing and … Read more

Occidental Petroleum, Backed by Buffett’s Financial Firepower, Makes a Go At Anadarko Petroleum in an Affront to Chevron

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Image Source: Occidental Petroleum Corporation – IR presentation The bidding war over Anadarko Petroleum is heating up with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway offering to invest $10.0 billion in a new 8% preferred issue from Occidental Petroleum, along with warrants to purchase up to 80 million shares of OXY at $62.50, if the energy company successfully acquires Anadarko. Occidental is bidding against Chevron because both firms want Anadarko’s Permian Basin acreage, but the leverage Occidental would take on the fund the deal would be extremely onerous in our view. By Callum Turcan Apparently three’s a crowd in the energy world, with the bidding war over Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (APC) heating up now that Warren Buffett has thrown his hat into the … Read more

ConocoPhillips: Turnaround Story in Progress

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Image Source: ConocoPhillips ConocoPhillips disappointed income-oriented investors when it cut its payout back in early 2016, a situation that was predictable given the company’s weakened Dividend Cushion ratio. However, a lot has changed since then. Now, ConocoPhillips’ Dividend Cushion ratio has climbed back to 3.5, and it’s likely the turnaround strategy launched by management several years ago will enable ConocoPhillips to reclaim its status as an income growth idea in the future. We continue to watch the company closely. By Callum Turcan The two parts of the storied energy giant, ConocoPhillips (COP) split back in 2012, with Phillips 66 (PSX), its downstream operations, performing markedly better in terms of dividend growth and capital appreciation than ConocoPhillips, the upstream super-independent, since then. … Read more

Valuentum Stock Screeners

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This article was sent to members via email December 29. That email can be accessed at the link that follows this article. By Brian Nelson, CFA Hi everyone, I wanted to provide an update with respect to Valuentum’s stock screeners. We believe our stock screeners are among the most robust when it comes to providing forward-looking data, or data that is important with respect to the investment decision-making process. We publish screens in each of the monthly newsletters, but we also provide a basic weekly screener for download on the left column of the website, “Download Weekly Stock Screener (xls) — login required.”   We also have other products. The more robust DataScreener, for example, is part of the quarterly Financial … Read more

Market Mayhem — Alerts for Members

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During these extremely volatile times, it’s important to stay focused. On December 15, we informed all of our members to “Pay Attention.” Shortly thereafter, we notified members of the potential for a stock market technical breakdown. This morning, we offered a pre-market briefing about the importance of thinking about portfolio protection. For Best Ideas Newsletter and Dividend Growth Newsletter members: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?preview=true&m=1110817109903&ca=e2406cd6-c113-4344-8731-493f33fc44a4&id=preview For High Yield Dividend Newsletter members: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?preview=true&m=1110817109903&ca=b3ba530f-38b3-489a-ac96-2961dca89c6b&id=preview For Exclusive members: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?preview=true&m=1110817109903&ca=ba6d90c0-4433-48b2-9b8a-aac4ddf9006e&id=preview We’re here for any questions. Please just let us know how we can help! Kind regards, Brian Nelson, CFA  brian@valuentum.com

Upstream Oil Major On the Upswing

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Image Source: Author’s Calculations and SEC Filings ConocoPhillips appears poised to grow its dividend thanks to a materially healthier balance sheet and an improving free cash flow profile. Volatile energy resource pricing will always be a long-term risk to the payout, but the near term looks bright for the upstream oil major. By Callum Turcan ConocoPhillips (COP) may present a strong dividend growth opportunity as it appears set to build upon its current 1.8% dividend yield. First, let’s cover exactly what forced the company to cut its dividend a few years back, and then dig into the potential drivers for dividend growth in the coming years. ConocoPhillips spun-off its downstream division and a large part of its midstream operations from … Read more

Update on 5 Top Energy Stocks: KMI, ETP, EPD, MMP, XOM

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We generally like the diversification provided in the Energy Select SPDR ETF (XLE) as one way to consider exposure to the energy resource arena, but let’s get the highlights on some of the most-viewed energy-related ideas on our website: Kinder Morgan, Energy Transfer Partners/Equity, Enterprise Product Partners, Magellan Midstream, and Exxon Mobil. By Kris Rosemann and Brian Nelson, CFA An estimate of intrinsic value is as important as a view that shares of a company are undervalued or overvalued, and we think an application of a fair value estimate range is most helpful. The question, “What is a company worth?”, remains paramount to any investment thesis. The fair value estimate is the outcome of any research and analysis. We’d view … Read more