SM Energy Appoints Petrie Partners To Review Asset Sale

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) recently announced that it has employed Petrie Partners to review the sale of certain leasehold assets in Williston Basin.

The company plans to sell nearly 54,500 net acres, including the Raven/Bear Den acreage and almost all lease-holdings in the basin outside its Divide County program.

Raven/Bear Den has tremendous potential and offers striking full-cycle returns. In fact, SM energy’s president and CEO, Jay Ottoson believes that the asset “will be of more value to a company that will actively pursue its near-term development.”

Ottoson also mentioned about a strategy to focus on the company’s Tier 1 assets in the Permian Basin and operated Eagle Ford. In keeping with this strategy, SM Energy is continuously upgrading its portfolio to focus and invest in the highest return programs. Therefore, the company can advance efficiently through enhanced activity.

The company’s attractive oil and gas investments, balanced and diverse portfolio of proved reserves and development drilling opportunities are expected to create long-term value for shareholders. We view SM Energy as one of the most attractive players in the exploration and production space.

The company’s strategy of offloading its non-core upstream properties while creating a portfolio with potentially stronger growth from a smaller base is commendable.

SM Energy is an independent oil and gas company engaged in the exploration, exploitation, development, acquisition and production of natural gas and crude oil in North America. The company’s operations are focused in five core operating areas in the United States – the ArkLaTex region, the Mid-Continent region, the Gulf Coast region, the Permian Basin region and the Rocky Mountain region.

SM Energy currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked players from the energy sector include Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) , NGL Energy Partners LP (NYSE:NGL) and Evolution Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:EPM) . All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Chevron posted a positive earnings surprise of 54.84% in the preceding quarter.

NGL Energy Partners has a mixed earnings surprise history. The partnership posted positive earnings surprise in two of the last four quarters. It reported a positive earnings surprise of 1480.0% in the preceding quarter.

In the last reported quarter, Evolution Petroleum Corp. delivered a positive earnings surprise of 350.00%. Coming to the earnings surprise history, the company beat estimates in two of the last four quarters.

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