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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery lost $1.07 to $42.23 on the New York Merc, while Brent for September lost 44 cents to $49.22 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $19.90 to WTI ($22.33), down from a discount of $19.75. Natural gas for September lost 14.4 cents to $2.787. The TSX energy index lost 5.68 points to close at 181.33

Scott Saxberg's Crescent Point Energy Corp. (CPG) lost 29 cents to $17.58 on 11 million shares, after facing the music and cutting its 23-cent monthly dividend, which as of yesterday's close was yielding 15.4 per cent. The new amount is 10 cents and yields 6.8 per cent. Although Crescent Point had taken pride in never cutting its dividend, not even after the 2008 market crash, investors were skeptical that the payout could survive much longer. For one thing, the stock is trading below its 2008 low of $18.13. For another, Crescent Point issued nearly 50 million new shares over the last two months to finance two takeovers, Legacy Oil in Saskatchewan (in a deal that closed at the end of June) and Coral Hill in Alberta (scheduled to close tomorrow). It also took on both companies' debt. All this put pressure on Crescent Point's balance sheet. President and CEO Saxberg assured the market as recently as late June that there was a "strong five-year plan ... [to] grow the company and maintain our dividend," but a lot has changed in the last six weeks, hence his new (perhaps defensive-sounding) position of, "This is the right decision." Analysts agreed. Although some, such as TD Securities' Travis Wood, expressed surprise that the dividend cut came so quickly, the general consensus was that it makes sense. Mr. Wood remained quite bullish on the stock and set a new price target of $38, down just $2 from his previous target of $40. Fellow optimist Patrick Bryden of Scotia also had a $40 target but lowered it to $35. Analysts at RBC and National Bank Financial had $30 targets and cut them to $25 and $28, respectively. The analysts were looking not just at the dividend cut but also Crescent Point's second quarter financials, which were generally as they predicted. As well, Crescent Point decreased its budget by $100-million (to $1.45-billion) without changing its production guidance, citing cost improvements.

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