Should payoff debt firstSGY should completely pay off their debt first before paying any dividends and buying back shares. Some intuitional investors have kept away from this stock. The style of the CEO has been too aggressive and unpredictable to the point of being reckless Their last debt is very expensive and around 8.8%. Why would a company pay dividends when they are carrying such an expensive debt.
The last time this company bought back shares it turned out to be a blunder.
The last statement is very balanced and some investors would be looking for a change in stryle. But still, hard to trust him again.
While the debt to cash flow ratio is low but now most oil companies have that and some have become even more aggressive and want to completely pay off their debt. There are some like GXE that are targeting zero debt. has a market cap of $288m with the production of 5700 B/D SGY has a market cap of around $550m with 21500 B/D. SGY is producing better quality oil. Most oil stocks are doing better than SGY.
Oil is out of favour for some investors and clean energy will continue to take over the market shares. Long term future outlook is not great for this sector. Oil companies will need to become lean and debt-free. Once they become debt-free they pay dividends. No one can predict that oil prices will stay at the current levels for a long time.