Energy Pioneer Natural Resources
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Krause Fund Research Fall 2018 Pioneer Natural Resources Energy (NYSE: PXD) Recommendation: SELL November 11, 2018 Current Price $159.82 Analysts Target Price $147-$152 Andrew Ball [email protected] Cost Control and Impressive Regional Growth Samuel Bries [email protected] Already Factored into PXD Price Adam Goedken [email protected] Gregory Hensley Investment Positives [email protected] • Pioneer operates with low costs in Western Texas. Company Overview Currently, their oil and gas production costs are 17% of revenues, 5% lower than those of their main competitor in the Permian Basin, Concho. Pioneer Natural Resources is an upstream energy company that operates by exploring and producing oil, natural gas • The company is becoming a pure play – divesting in their liquids (NGLs), and other gases. Pioneer uses fracking to least profitable regions will raise their overall profit. Pioneer plans extract oil from shale fields and natural gas from methane to move more operations to the Permian Basin, a fast-growing layers. Pioneer is based in Irving, Texas and is in the process region where they benefit from greater profit margins. of becoming a pure play firm in the Permian Basin, located in Western Texas. By divesting from assets outside of the Permian Basin, Pioneer expects to reduce companywide costs • Q1-Q3 2018 reports suggest large revenue gains in this fiscal and focus on their lucrative operations in the Permian Basin. year, with oil futures suggesting Pioneer will face a more favorable oil price outlook from 2019-2020. Stock Performance Highlights 52-week High $213.40 Investment Negatives 52-week Low $140.54 Beta Value 0.71 • DCF/EP analysis suggests favorable news about the company Average Daily Volume 1.589 m and optimistic estimates about revenue growth and cost savings are already priced into PXD stock. Share Highlights • Pioneer is sensitive to oil price risk, and currently future Market Capitalization $27.233 b curves project a decrease in oil prices after 2019, dropping to Shares Outstanding 170.4 m $60.06 in 2022 (from a forecasted $62.32 in 2019). Actual oil EPS (2017) $4.86 price can also differ greatly from futures estimates. P/E Ratio 14.18 Dividend Yield 0.22% Dividend Payout Ratio 4% One Year Stock Performance PXD one year stock performance relative to the S&P 500 Index Company Performance Highlights and the U.S Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund ROA 4.9% ROE 8% Sales $5.455 b Financial Ratios Current Ratio 1.41 Debt to Equity 0.26 Source: Wall Street Journal1 1 | P a g e Healthy domestic growth will be a positive for energy companies Executive Summary in the U.S. The U.S. economy grew at 4.2% and 3.5% in the second and third quarter, respectively, in 2018, a large increase from 3.1% and 3.2% growth in the second and third quarter of As of November 11, 2018, our University of Iowa Krause Fund 2017. Strong consumer and business spending are the two primary analyst team recommends a SELL rating for Pioneer Natural factors that have helped drive the strong economic growth in the Resources. Pioneer has been reducing costs and maximizing past two quarters.3 According to the Federal Reserve Bank of revenue by capitalizing on growth opportunities in the Permian Atlanta, U.S GDP growth is expected to be 2.9% in the fourth Basin. However, Pioneer’s success is largely dependent on the quarter of 2018.4 price of oil. While we believe the macroeconomic environment will be favorable for oil and gas exploration and production Figure 2 companies in the future, there is still a high level of uncertainty in the oil price marketplace. The United States’ move toward greater energy independence does not negate the influence of OPEC on oil supply and demand. Oil price risk—evidenced by a slight decline in oil futures by 2020 and projected in our models—led us to view Pioneer Natural Resources as an overvalued stock. Macroeconomic Outlook World Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 3 Source: FRED Economic Data Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is one of the key indicators of economic development that influences the demand for oil and In the next year, we predict that U.S real GDP growth will grow other energy resources. Economic expansion occurs when the at a rate of 3.0%, a 70-basis-point increase from an annualized demand for goods and services increase. In an economic growth rate of 2.3% from 2017. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of expansion, sales of products for which oil and natural gas are 2017 has contributed to large corporate profits and business inputs increase, and consumers are less frugal with their energy investment in the last year. The Commerce Department noted that consumption. Businesses look to grow, requiring more energy after-tax profits across the U.S rose 16.1% in the 2nd quarter from 5 consumption than before. Consequently, real GDP growth causes the previous year, the largest year-over-year gain in six years. As demand for energy resources causes oil prices to rise, driving a result, per-share earnings for companies in the S&P 500 rose revenue growth. Figure 1 shows a correlation between economic 24.8% over the second quarter of 2017. growth and oil demand and consumption. Figure 3 Figure 1 Source: Wall Street Journal5 In addition to rising corporate profits and business investment, metrics such as consumer confidence, rising personal incomes, a strong labor market, and a jobless rate of 3.7%, have encouraged greater consumer and business consumption that has driven economic expansion. Figure 4 shows the U.S. Consumer Confidence level directed by the Conference Board Consumer Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration2 Confidence, which current levels show at 98.3.6 Given that consumer confidence is measured based on household surveys of Domestic Growth Outlook consumers’ opinions on current conditions and future 2 | P a g e expectations of the economy, we expect this trend to continue. Figure 6 Given these metrics, we expect U.S. GDP to grow at 3.00% for the foreseeable future. Figure 4 Source: International Monetary Fund8 With an expected 3.7% world GDP growth rate for 2018 and Source: Trading Economics6 2019, increased activity in the international marketplace will be a significant driver for energy demand and consumption. Energy International Growth Outlook demand and consumption will not only come from larger economies such as China and India, but also emerging market and For our analysis of the international marketplace, we consider developing countries benefiting from overall world growth, and a China and India to be the main foreign drivers for energy positive rotation in the global business cycle.9 resources. China and India together contribute nearly 50% of global oil demand.7 Figure 5, below, shows world oil demand Figure 7 growth by year, showing China and India’s dominance for the demand of oil. Figure 5 Source: International Monetary Fund8 Interest Rates Source: International Energy Agency7 Interest rates are a key economic variable to consider as they are one of the major determinants of a firm's cost of debt. Rising The International Monetary Fund has projected global GDP to interest rates lead to higher borrowing costs, as investors require grow at 3.7% for 2018 and 2019, with China and India’s GDP a higher return for riskier investments taken by the firm. The 10- expected growth rates to be 6.20% and 7.70%, respectively.8 As Treasury Yield (3.186%) was used as the risk-free rate to calculate China and India continue to expand their economies and the cost of debt in our valuation. Figure 8 shows that the 10- international footprint, they will use more oil, which will drive oil Treasury yield has been rising steadily over the past year with oil demand and consumption higher. Future curves project that oil prices. Due to the recent hikes in the federal funds rate, we expect prices will reach $60.06 in 2022. the rate to reach 4.00% by 2020 to trump rising inflation. 3 | P a g e Figure 8 0.3 million barrels per day in quarter 3 of 2018, its largest production amount in over a year. Figure 10 Source: FRED Economics Data10 As of September of 2018, Federal Reserve officials have raised interest rates for the third time this year and have reaffirmed their outlook for further rate hates into 2019.11 The federal funds rate currently stands at 2.25%, a 25-basis-point increase in September from its last rate of 2.00%. Figure 9 Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration12 In 2017, world oil production rose by 0.6 million b/d, below average for the second consecutive year. Production fell in the Middle East (-250,000 b/d) and South & Central America (- 240,000 Kb/d), but this was outweighed by growth in North America (820.00 b/d), specifically the U.S. (690,000 b/d).13 Figure 11 Source: Bloomberg11 Oil exploration and production companies are often highly leveraged, as they look to expand their operations by acquiring more reserves. As the federal funds rate is projected to increase 3 times during 2019, firms with a low cost of debt that have a history of paying back their lenders are able to maneuver better in this environment. Energy Commodities Supply & Demand Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration14 For energy commodities, supply and demand is the definitive Figure 11 provides the growth U.S. production of crude oil, driver of price. Oil and gas prices fluctuate due to supply and showing a steep increase since the financial crisis of 2008.