This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.

Here is a sample of this item:

by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery lost 91 cents to $44.29 on the New York Merc, while Brent for December lost 56 cents to $47.42 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $14.85 to WTI ($29.44), up from a discount of $15.00. Natural gas for December added 0.7 cent to $2.371. The TSX energy index lost 1.11 points to close at 186.03.

Ian Dundas's Enerplus Corp. (ERF) added 41 cents to $7.19 on 5.37 million shares, as news of a dividend cut was outweighed by solid third quarter financials and pleasing guidance updates. The dividend cut was not particularly surprising. As of yesterday's close, the five-cent monthly dividend yielded 8.8 per cent, even higher than when it was chopped from nine cents earlier this year. Enerplus has now halved it to three cents for a yield of 5 per cent. That is still rather generous, but the company seems confident in its assets' ability to handle it. Certainly the assets are having a good year. In the third quarter, they produced 110,794 barrels of oil equivalent a day and generated cash flow of 58 cents a share, exceeding analysts' predictions of 103,750 barrels a day and 56 cents a share. As well, Enerplus was able to raise its full-year production guidance to 106,000 barrels a day (from a range of 100,000 to 104,000 barrels a day) while lowering its budget to $510-million (from $540-million).

The remainder is available to Stockwatch subscribers.
Sign-up for a FREE 30-day Stockwatch subscription and SEE NO ADS