Wednesday, February 18, 2015

"Warren Buffett Dumps ExxonMobil…For Good Reason?" (XOM; DE)

We still have no interest in the oil stocks and definitely not in the megacap integrateds.
Maybe SLB somewhere down the road and some of the E&P's with really, really solid balance sheets.
Down the road.
From Barron's Stocks to Watch:
Last night we learned that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) had dumped its stake in ExxonMobil (XOM) as oil prices plunged. It seems to be a popular decision these days. As readers of Barron’s know, Andrew Bary recommended avoiding big-oil companies, including Exxon, in this week’s issue of the magazine. And now, JPMorgan has reiterated their lukewarm outlook on ExxonMobil–and a bunch of others–in a note that looks at dividend coverage among Big Oil. Analyst Phil Gresh and John Royall explain:
Along with an improved sustaining free-cash-flow yield, we have quickly seen our coverage group react to the current environment with actual capex cuts, which has allowed actual free-cash-flow yields to migrate closer toward sustaining free-cash-flow yields…several companies (ConocoPhillips (COP), Cenovus Energy (CVE), Chevron (CVX)) are getting quite close to their sustaining capex/free-cash-flow potential already. However, companies like ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy (SU), which have strong balance sheets and low per barrel breakeven prices, have not yet fully pulled the trigger to just run at maintenance type levels....
...MORE
 
Fellow Murdochians, MoneyBeat are reporting Warren is buying Deere.
Probably early barring a hard freeze in Ukraine this spring.