Encana (NYSE: ECA ) , Canada's largest natural gas producer, yesterday announced its eagerly anticipated new strategy to help it become a leaner, more focused energy company.
As outlined in a news release, Encana's new strategy entails focusing capital on five oil- and liquids-rich North American resource plays; reducing its cost structure; diversifying its commodity mix away from natural gas; and unlocking more value from its portfolio through asset sales and a spinoff of its Canadian Clearwater assets into a new public company.
But will that be enough to compensate for Encana's heavy concentration in natural gas? Let's take a closer look.
Encana's new strategy
Encana is clearly serious about trimming its capital budget. Earlier this year, it said it planned�to achieve cost savings and efficiency gains of $100 million-$150 million over an 18-month period. By the end of this year, the company reckons it should be able to achieve about $110 million of that target.
Hot Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. (AXL)
American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, engineering, design, and validation of driveline and drivetrain systems, and related components and chassis modules for automotive industry in the United States. The company?s driveline and drivetrain systems comprise components that transfer power from the transmission and deliver it to the drive wheels. These products include axles, chassis modules, driveshafts, power transfer units, transfer cases, chassis and steering components, driving heads, crankshafts, transmission parts, and metal-formed products. It offers products for light trucks, sport utility vehicles, passenger cars, crossover vehicles, and commercial vehicles. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Ben Levisohn]
Weekend news likely prompts a negative reaction Monday, but Tues-Wed could go either way. GM stock could respond well if March share meets/beats expectations and if GM were to make adequate statements explaining concerns and offering remedies (OnStar can play role here). A sub-17% share and/or more negative revelations could pressure the stock further. We enter the week with a buy-on-weakness approach but acknowledge that this latest escalation adds ST market share risk. Thus, we also look to add positions in Buy-rated Ford (F) (possible ST share gains) and [American Axle & Manufacturing (AXL)] (pulled back + Q2 schedules appear intact).
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Cooper Tire & Rubber (CTB) has gained 1% to $24.86 today, but its trading more on whether investors expect its acquisition by Apollo Tyres to be completed. Car-part companies, however, are also exhibiting weakness today. TRW Automotive (TRW) has fallen 0.8% to $77.91, Lear (LEA) has dipped 0.4% to $74.78 and American Axel and Manufacturing (AXL) is off 0.5% to $18.99.
- [By Seth Jayson]
American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings (NYSE: AXL ) is expected to report Q1 earnings on May 3. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:
Hot Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: Higher One Holdings Inc.(ONE)
Higher One Holdings, Inc. provides technology and payment services in the United States. It offers a suite of disbursement and payment solutions for higher education institutions and their students. The company provides OneDisburse Refund Management product that offers higher education institutional clients with a technology service for streamlining the student refund disbursement process. It also offers CASHNet Payment suite that includes software-as-a-service products and services, such as ePayment to securely accept online payments for tuition, charges, and fees from students through credit card, pinless debit, and ACH; eBill to automate payer billing and processing functions; MyPaymentPlan to personalize students? payment plans; eMarket that allows academic, athletic, and other departments to take alumni donations, sell event tickets and other merchandise, and accept payments of event and conference registration fees; and Cashiering to operate and manage cashiering fu nctions, back office payments, and campus-wide departmental deposits. In addition, the company provides OneDisburse ID, which offers an option to combine the company?s debit card with the institution?s ID cards; OneDisburse Payroll to distribute payroll and other employee-related payments; OneDisburse PLUS product to distribute Parent PLUS loan refunds to parents on behalf of the school; and Financial Intelligence to students with an online class. Further, it provides student-oriented banking services to campus communities. Additionally, the company offers OneAccount product for students, as well as faculty, staff, and alumni, with an FDIC-insured online checking account and a debit MasterCard ATM card. Higher One Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Roberto Pedone]
One under-$10 business services player that looks poised for a run higher is Higher One (ONE), which provides technology-based refund disbursement, payment processing and data analytics services to higher education institutions and students. It also provides banking services to campus communities. This stock has been hit hard by the bears so far in 2013, with shares down by 26%.
If you take a look at the chart for Higher One, you'll notice that this stock has been downtrending badly for the last three months, with shares plunging from its high of $11.93 to its recent low of $6.97 a share. During that downtrend, shares of ONE were consistently making lower highs and lower lows, which is bearish technical price action. That said, shares of ONE have recently formed a double bottom chart pattern at $7.05 to $6.97 a share. This stock has now started to rebound sharply off that double bottom and move within range of triggering a near-term breakout trade.
Traders should now look for long-biased trades in ONE if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance at $7.85 a share and then once it clears its 50-day moving average at $8.11 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 196,360 shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then ONE will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $9 to its 200-day moving average of $9.77 a share. This stock could even tag $11 a share if that 200-day gets taken out with volume.
Traders can look to buy ONE off weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support at $7.39 a share, or below $7 a share. One can also buy ONE off strength once it takes out those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.
Top Media Stocks To Watch For 2015: Imperial Oil Limited(IMO)
Imperial Oil Limited engages in the exploration, production, and sale of crude oil and natural gas in Canada. The company operates through three segments: Upstream, Downstream, and Chemical. The Upstream segment engages in the exploration and production of conventional crude oil, natural gas, synthetic oil, and bitumen primarily in the Western Provinces, the Canada Lands, and the Atlantic Offshore. Its primary conventional oil producing asset includes the Norman Wells oil field in the Northwest Territories. The Downstream segment engages in the transportation and refining of crude oil, as well as blending, distribution, and marketing of refined products. It owns and operates crude oil, and natural gas liquids and products pipelines in Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario. The Chemical segment engages in the manufacture and marketing of various petrochemicals, including ethylene, benzene, aromatic and aliphatic solvents, plasticizer intermediates, and polyethylene resin. As of De cember 31, 2010, Imperial Oil Limited had 1,204 million oil-equivalent barrels of proved undeveloped reserves; maintained a nation-wide distribution system, including 24 primary terminals, to handle bulk and packaged petroleum products moving from refineries to market by pipeline, tanker, rail, and road transport; and sold petroleum products through 1,850 Esso retail service stations, of which approximately 510 were company owned or leased. The company was founded in 1880 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Imperial Oil Limited operates as a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Arjun Sreekumar]
Cost overruns and abandoned projects
As a result of these factors, cost overruns have become quite common in Alberta. For instance, Imperial Oil (NYSEMKT: IMO ) said it exceeded its cost estimates for the first phase of its Kearl bitumen mining facility by about C$2 billion.�And some companies have even decided to abandon expensive projects altogether.
Hot Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: Suntech Power Holdings Co. LTD.(STP)
Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd., a solar energy company, engages in the design, development, manufacture, and marketing of photovoltaic (PV) products. The company also provides engineering, procurement, and construction services to building solar power systems for certain related party and third party customers. Its products include monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon PV cells; PV modules; and building-integrated photovoltaics products. In addition, the company provides PV system integration services, including designing, installing, and testing PV systems used in lighting for outdoor urban public facilities, as well as in farms, villages, and commercial buildings; and project development services. Its products are used to provide electric power for residential, commercial, industrial, and public utility applications. The company sells its products through value-added resellers, such as distributors and system integrators; and to end users, such as project develo pers primarily in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Benelux, Greece, the United States, Canada, China, the Middle East, Australia, and Japan. Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. is headquartered in Wuxi, the People?s Republic of China.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Caplinger]
Most of the move in Trina's stock has come in just the past month, as two trends have really taken hold since April. First, U.S. companies First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR ) and SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR ) have given rosy projections of their respective future prospects, as First Solar aims to improve its panels' efficiency through its acquisition of TetraSun, and SunPower has benefited from its industry-leading efficiency in boosting its profits. In addition, with the bond default earlier this year by Suntech Power (NYSE: STP ) , some believe that the Chinese government might allow weaker Chinese players to fail, which could potentially lead to reduced production and end what has been a crippling supply glut that has weighed on prices around the world.
- [By Travis Hoium]
Stick with quality
LDK Solar and Suntech Power (NYSE: STP ) have already defaulted on debt, and the most leveraged Chinese manufacturers may follow others into full on bankruptcy (Suntech's subsidiary is already bankrupt, but the parent company isn't). Betting on leverage and hope for a recovery in China is a dangerous game, and investors should stick with high-quality manufacturers. - [By Dan Carroll]
China's companies now have even less wiggle room to operate, considering lending's either expensive or hard to come by. As investment flows out of the country, unstable companies won't survive, even with government support. Solar-power company Suntech Power's (NYSE: STP ) recent bankruptcy is an early sign of things to come. Suntech was the first Chinese solar-power company to go public when it hit the market in 2005, and generous public subsidies helped propel its growth. With money tightening across the country, Suntech's questionable business practices sank it -- the first of what could be more troubles to come for weaker Chinese company.
Hot Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: ENI S.p.A. (E)
Eni SpA, an integrated energy company, engages in the exploration, production, transportation, transformation, and marketing of oil and natural gas. The company also involves in the production and sale of electricity; refining and marketing of petroleum products; and production and sale of petrochemical products and hydrocarbons. In addition, it engages in the offshore and onshore hydrocarbon field construction. Further, the company offers offshore and onshore drilling, and offshore design and engineering services for oil and gas companies. It has a strategic partnership with Gazprom for the joint development of projects in the upstream oil and gas markets. Eni SpA operates in Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania, and the Americas. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Rome, Italy with an additional office in San Donato Milanese, Italy.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By David Hunkar]
Current Dividend Yield: 4.35%
Company: Eni SpA (E)
Sector: Telecom
Country: SingaporeCurrent Dividend Yield: 4.91%
Sector: Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels
Country: Italy - [By Selena Maranjian]
Italy-based oil giant ENI SpA (NYSE: E ) advanced 12% and yields 5.3%. The company suffered serious disruption by political unrest in Libya a few years ago, and is now facing unrest in Egypt, as are Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A ) and others. ENI is active in Syria�as well. ENI sports double-digit revenue and earnings growth, with revenue growth accelerating in recent years. It has been moving into natural gas in recent years.
- [By Tyler Crowe]
EOR isn't the only sign that production isn't as simple as it once was, though. Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A ) , BP, and Eni (NYSE: E ) have all requested recently that the Iraqi government reduce its production targets at various fields across the country, which under current production goals would deplete more than half of the country's reserves in 20 years. Furthermore, during Core Laboratories' (NYSE: CLB ) recent conference call, CEO David Demshur noted that the company has seen a "surprising" amount of increased interest in its reservoir management and production enhancement divisions.�
Hot Canadian Stocks To Watch Right Now: Silver Wheaton Corp(SLW)
Silver Wheaton Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a silver streaming company worldwide. The company has 14 long-term silver purchase agreements and 2 long-term precious metal purchase agreements whereby it acquires silver and gold production from the counterparties located in Mexico, the United States, Canada, Greece, Sweden, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Portugal. Silver Wheaton Corp. is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Doug Ehrman]
Friday's trading session saw a halt in trading of two major precious-metals companies on news that the Chilean government was shutting down operations at the Pascua Lama mine. Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX ) , which operates the mine, was halted first, with joint-venture partner Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW ) halted a few minutes later. The mine, which Barrick has already spent more than $5 billion developing, represents one of the largest resources for gold and silver in the world.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
During the past decade, Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW ) has taken advantage of soaring silver prices using its unique silver streaming business model. But in the following video, Fool contributor Dan Caplinger says there will be difficult times ahead for Silver Wheaton to navigate. One of the most obvious challenges is the recent decline in silver prices.
- [By Travis Hoium]
What: Gold and silver miners are taking it on the chin today. Royal Gold (NASDAQ: RGLD ) fell as much as 10.4%, Allied Nevada Gold (NYSEMKT: ANV ) fell up to 11.5%, and Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW ) dropped as much as 11.2%.
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