With all of the emotional charge swirling around BP as of late, I thought it might be interesting to look at a couple of other players in the energy markets.
BP is sitting at just under $30 a share and market capitalization just under $93B, about half of where it was pre-Gulf-oil-spill crisis. The dividend has been canceled for the first three quarters of 2010, and it's being reported in Bloomberg and elsewhere that a cash injection could be coming in the next few days to stave off takeover bids.
Looking across the energy landscape, my eyes land on two firms: Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobile (XOM). These two firms have higher capitalization, pretty high dividend yields, both off 52-week highs, etc.
Valuing energy firms can be tricky, and you really need to read the fine print in both analyst's reports and in the firm-produced financial releases. There is something called "planned maintenance" that can significantly impact a particular quarter, and weather has an impact on refining productivity throughout the year. Around 6% of the output for both firms is from the Gulf. Speaking of the Gulf, Bloomberg is reporting that the oil spill in the Gulf will drive down rig rates - a good thing if you're renting rigs at just under $500,000 per day.
Final note on Exxon: the firm just completed the acquisition of XTO, a much smaller firm primarily focused on natural gas exploration. Some analysts say it's weighed down the stock price a bit, pricing in the acquisition for some time now.
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