Andrew Willis: At the end of last month, Inter Pipeline detected a leak on its Polaris pipeline near Fort McMurray, Alberta. With uncertainties as to the cause, and how long it will take to restart, it reminded us of the vulnerabilities of the oil sector – although I doubt most of us needed that this year.
It also reminded us to check on the state of the industry as a whole, for we found that the Polaris pipeline fed into operations with other oil Canadian oil giants such as Imperial Oil (IMO) and Husky Energy (HSE). And things look okay!
Senior equity analyst Joe Gemino doesn’t expect the leak to impact his fair value estimates for Inter Pipeline (IPL), or Imperial Oil. As for Husky Energy: we’re still unsure whether they’ll be affected, but we are certain of one thing. The stock is undervalued.
Trading around 40% below its fair value, it reminds us that the market can underestimate a company’s ability to generate cash from a variety of revenue streams and geographical locations, and that it will take time for the positive sentiment to come around.
But for long term investors, these near term uncertainties pale in comparison to the years of profit potential in return for practicing pipeline patience.
For Morningstar, I’m Andrew Willis.
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