| U.S. markets were closed for the Juneteenth holiday. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery lost 10 cents to $81.47 in electronic trading on the New York Merc, while Brent for August lost 24 cents to $85.07 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $15 to WTI, up from a discount of $15.50. Natural gas for July added one cent to $2.92. The TSX energy index lost a fraction of a point to close at 275.24. Oil prices drifted downward during a thin trading day, taking Canadian energy stocks with them. Even Advantage Energy Inc. (AAV) lost nine cents to $10.32 on one million shares, despite the rah-rah raptures of its cheerleading squad, also known as analysts. Many of the analysts' employers are now off restriction following yesterday's closing of an $11-a-share bought deal for $65-million and a convertible debenture offering for $125-million. Advantage is using the proceeds for a Charlie Lake and Montney asset acquisition in Alberta. The lead underwriters of the equity financing were TD and Scotiabank. TD analyst Aaron Bilkoski wasted no time publishing a research note hyping the acquisition as "strategic," "attractive," "accretive," and more. He reiterated his price target of $14 (a 27-per-cent premium to the financing price of $11). Scotiabank's Cameron Bean was even more bullish, hiking his price target to $20 from $19. Ignore the "negative vibes" and treat the current weakness in the stock as a "buying opportunity," he urged. Others with similar advice -- if not quite as lofty targets -- included Desjardins analyst Chris MacCulloch (who reiterated his target of $13.50), ATB's Amir Arif (who increased his target to $13.50 from $13), National Bank's Dan Payne (who increased his target to $13 from $12), and RBC's Michael Harvey and CIBC's Jamie Kubik (both of whom boosted their targets to $12 from $11). Advantage has not disclosed whether insiders participated in the financing. According to SEDI, however, three insiders have been buying over the past week on the open market, spending over $134,000 to buy a total of 13,000 shares. Directors Stephen Balog and Donald Clague each picked up 5,000 shares. Another 3,000 went to Geoff Keyser, vice-president of corporate development. |