Lee Samaha, The Motley Fool
5 min read
In This Article:
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Independent oil companies rushed to increase hedges during the recent oil price spike.
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These three companies are strong candidates to have done so, based on their existing hedging strategies.
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Increased hedging, at the right price, will reduce downside exposure to the price of oil and help secure dividends.
It's no secret that the market has lost interest in oil stocks over the past year. Indeed, all three stocks covered here -- namely, Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN), Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ: FANG), and Vitesse Energy (NYSE: VTS) -- have declined over the last year. As such, they now trade with excellent dividend yields or attractive price-to-free cash flow (FCF) multiples.
Moreover, I think there's a strong possibility that all three companies have recently moved to reduce risk and secure their dividends. Here's why.
Israel's attack on Iran sent the price of oil spiking higher, as investors priced in the risk of ongoing instability in a critically crucial oil-producing region. However, before going into how oil companies responded to this, it's worth putting the move into context.
The spike occurred after a few months of oil trading in the low-to-mid-$60 per-barrel range. In addition, sentiment toward oil turned negative following a slower economic growth outlook (due to tariff escalations and ongoing geopolitical tensions) and OPEC's decision to increase production.
There's little doubt that sentiment turned negative after events in the spring. For example, Vitesse implemented a 32% cut in its planned capital expenditures and deferred completion of a couple of wells "in response to current commodity price volatility to preserve returns and maintain financial flexibility." Diamondback cut its planned 2025 capital expenditures to $3.4 billion to $3.8 billion from a previous range of $3.8 billion to $4.2 billion.
While Devon didn't make any adjustments in connection with the commodity price environment, management noted, "With the ongoing market and price volatility, Devon will continue to monitor the macro environment and has significant flexibility to adjust its activity and capital programs" on its earnings release in early May.
According to numerous reports, the attack on Iran on June 13 triggered a record amount of hedging volumes through Aegis Hedging Solutions. This company assists commodity companies with their hedging strategies. While some of it was possibly oil companies looking to get exposure to potentially higher prices, the likelihood is that it was independent oil companies taking advantage of the spike to hedge their near-term production.
