Imperial Oil
IMO
along with the majority owner,
ExxonMobil
XOM
, announced plans that will market its interests in XTO Energy Canada. As part of the proposal, the companies offer to sell shale oil and gas properties in the Western part of Canada. The intended divestiture is consistent with Imperial’s strategy to prioritize its upstream capital on major oil sands assets, although a definitive decision to sell the properties has not yet been made, according to the company.
Both Imperial and Exxon are equal partners in XTO Energy, with assets that include the Montney and Duvernay basins of central Alberta. The properties are spread over 568,000 net acres in the Montney shale region and about 85,000 net acres in the Duvernay shale region and some additional land in other parts of Alberta. The to-be-marketed assets produce about 140 million cubic feet of natural gas and about 9,000 barrels of crude, condensate and natural gas liquids daily.
Founded in 1880, Calgary-based Imperial Oil Limited is one of the largest integrated oil companies of Canada, mainly engaged in oil and gas production, petroleum products refining and marketing and chemical business.
Investors should know that IMO is a subsidiary of ExxonMobil — one of the world’s biggest publicly traded integrated oil companies — with the latter holding nearly a 70% stake in the Canadian operator. ExxonMobil also acts as Imperial Oil’s chief financier, which adds to the company’s financial stability and helps it access cheap capital.
Imperial Oil currently has Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks from the energy sector include
Murphy USA
MUSA
and
Earthstone Energy
ESTE
. Both these companies sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Murphy USA: Murphy USA is valued at around $5 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Murphy USA’s 2022 earnings has been revised 17.2% upward over the past 60 days from 9.45 to 11.08.
Murphy USA beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in three of the trailing four quarters, the average being 20.9%. MUSA stock has rallied around 55.4% in a year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Earthstone’s 2022 earnings is pegged at $3.15 per share, up 118.8% from the projected 2021 earnings of $1.44.
Earthstone beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 93.2%. ESTE shares have rallied around 146.2% in a year.
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