MarketWatch: Stocks open mostly higher; Nasdaq flat after worst month since 2008
Stocks opened mostly higher Monday as investors await this week's Federal Reserve meeting, though the...
Stocks opened mostly higher Monday as investors await this week's Federal Reserve meeting, though the Nasdaq Composite edged lower after turning in its worst monthly performance since 2008. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.01% rose 77 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.14% edged up 0.1%. The Nasdaq COMP, 0.16% was down less than 0.1% at 12,334.
Devon Energy Inc. (NYSE: DVN) is the country’s third-largest independent producer of oil and natural gas. The company’s stock has added about 188% to its share price over the past 12 months, thanks largely to a jump in crude oil prices that began in late September.
Consensus estimates call for first-quarter revenue of $3.57 billion, which would be down 16.5% sequentially but up by 103% year over year. Adjusted EPS are forecast at $1.76, up 26.4% sequentially and 290% higher year over year. For the full 2022 fiscal year, Devon is forecast to post EPS of $8.05, up 128%, on revenue of $14.81 billion, up 21.3%.
Analysts are unsurprisingly bullish on the stock, with 22 of 30 giving the shares a Buy or Strong Buy rating. Devon’s stock trades at 7.4 times expected 2022 EPS, 7.8 times estimated 2023 earnings of $7.66 and 9.1 times estimated 2024 earnings of $6.60 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $23.02 to $65.45. Devon pays an annual dividend of $4.00 (yield of 6.68%). Total shareholder return for the past year was 165.9%.
US Total Rig Count Climbs Up By 3, Oklahoma Unchanged
Baker Hughes reported the number of oil and gas drilling rigs active in the U.S. rose by 3 in the past...
Baker Hughes reported the number of oil and gas drilling rigs active in the U.S. rose by 3 in the past week while Oklahoma’s count was unchanged.
The latest Baker Hughes rig report showed Oklahoma has 51 rigs actively seeking oil and gas. The national count increased to 698. The gain included three more oil rigs for a total of 552 while the number of gas rigs was unchanged at 144.
A year ago, the U.S. count was 440 and since then, there has been a gain of 258 rigs including 210 more oil rigs and 48 more gas rigs.
The $3.4 billion write-down in Russia isn’t enough to stop surging profits at Exxon
The war in Ukraine has been great for the bottom lines of multinational oil and gas companies, even though...
The war in Ukraine has been great for the bottom lines of multinational oil and gas companies, even though many have had to abandon billions of dollars worth of assets in Russia. ExxonMobil and Chevron posted surging first-quarter profits on April 29, buoyed by oil prices that have stayed above $100 per barrel since the Russian invasion. Exxon’s profit for the quarter hit $5.5 billion, double the same period last year even after having to write off $3.4 billion for exiting its Sakhalin-1 drilling operation in Russia.
NatGas: Traders Bracing for Start of Large Weekly Storage Injections
Natural gas futures closed higher last week primarily on expectations that declines in U.S. output will...
Natural gas futures closed higher last week primarily on expectations that declines in U.S. output will keep the amount of gas that utilities can inject into storage lower than usual in coming weeks. Prices were also boosted on steady demand for U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The upcoming weeks from mid-May through early June often feature the largest weekly storage injections of the year, according to EBW. This may provide an opportunity for the market to catch up to a lagging storage trajectory, with weekly storage builds potentially reaching the triple digits, according to the firm.
