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Strategies & Market Trends : Dino's Bar & Grill -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Goose94 who wrote (55596)	3/3/2019 8:04:14 AM
From: Goose94	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 202705

Whitecap Resources (WCP-T) releasing its year-end 2018 financials. They were largely in line with analysts' predictions. Full-year production averaged 74,415 barrels of oil equivalent a day, within Whitecap's guidance of 74,000 to 75,000 barrels a day. The fourth quarter saw a slight drop in production to 73,185 barrels a day. During a conference call yesterday, Whitecap's president and chief executive officer, Mr. Fagerheim, blamed the drop on some minor gas production shut-ins, as well as the decision to bring an early halt to 2018 drilling activity in the Saskatchewan Viking because of volatile oil prices. Price volatility is also why Whitecap is maintaining what it has repeatedly called its "cautious and defensive" guidance in 2019. Some have called it too cautious: Whitecap is aiming for 2019 production of just 70,000 to 72,000 barrels a day, a nearly 5-per-cent decrease from 2018. Oil prices and general sentiment have improved since that guidance was initially released in December, prompting Mr. Fagerheim to predict during yesterday's conference call that 2019 will be "a comeback year for oil companies." He was then asked whether Whitecap would consider boosting its guidance or even its dividend. (Whitecap pays a 2.7-cent monthly dividend for a yield of 7 per cent.) Mr. Fagerheim did not rule either option out, but said the company's current "top priority" for extra cash is to pay down its $1.3-billion net debt. He added that the company is just about finished its first quarter drilling program and will analyze the results before making any new budget decisions. Though investors did not take kindly to Whitecap's year-end update, the company retained plenty of friends among analysts. Canaccord Genuity analyst Anthony Petrucci praised Whitecap for returning value to shareholders through dividends, share buybacks and debt repayment. He sees "significant value opportunity in the stock" and kept his price target at $8. Scotia Capital analyst Patrick Bryden reiterated his confidence in Whitecap's ability to achieve "organic annual production per share growth of 6 per cent to 8 per cent in 2020 and 2021, along with dividend increases." He kept his price target at $8.50. The worst criticism, if it can even be called that, seems to have come from Industrial Alliance Securities analyst Michael Charlton, who fretted over Whitecap's "volatile" fourth quarter but nonetheless sees "exponential upside for investors." He lowered his price target to $9.50 from $11.50.