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Baytex Energy CorpBTE.TOCOMMENTJul 06, 2021Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 19, 2026. Market Open.
Recent M&A not being rewarded. Expecting market to digest Ranger acquisition. Expecting better performance in 2024. High quality increase in Eagleford starting to be understand. ~$9 share price not unreasonable. $14 share price also possible. Will continue to own shares. Would buy more shares if possible. Very bullish.
Impacted by wildfires. Acquisition of Ranger got them into US, but also increased leverage quite a bit. Will have to concentrate on debt reduction. Has promised fairly high portion of free cashflow to shareholders via dividends and buybacks. Fairly attractive at current prices, but better choices in the sector. Yield is 1.7%.
We like BTE better these days. It was in the dog house for a long time (high debt, dividend elimination) but has managed to get things back on track. It has re-started a dividend, and is very cheap. Debt is still higher than most peers, however, and it made a $1.3B acquisition this year while the rest of the sector focused on paying down debt. We do like WCP 'better', but for diversification we think BTE becomes more interesting if it goes below $5.
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It gives you leverage to WTI oil. About 25% of their production is heavy oil. Like many oil companies in 2021-22, BTE is reducing debt as we caught in 2020 with too much debt. What hinders their upside is that they've hedged a lot of their production--50% of it is capped at US$52 per barrel. BTE still falls in the top 20% of beta to WTI upside, but not as much as a heavy oil producer like Meg Energy. Could oil stocks return to highs 4 years ago? Anything is possible, he supposes, but he doesn't think the market will go to highs until investors see more stability or concrete outlook in the oil market in the next 12-24 months.