RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:we need senior management changeHere's my take.....
Suncor management has been using its huge FCF to buy back shares and pay back debt. They have also been using this cash to engage in activities which will reduce its long term costs to produce oil and some of this activities involves the use of renewable energy and carbon capture to reduce its GHG emmisions.
All of these activities are good things and this is why for now I have stated that I support management's current strategy.
The problem with this strategy if that is all managment plans to do then....
1.....becoming a low cost producer of oil is a good thing the market believes that over the long run the world will need much less oil and so the oil that SU has will become like orphans...nobody will want or need this oil and so those who believe this will happen are selling their shares and hence the downward pressure on the SP
2....so far SU adventures into renewables has been geared towards lower the cost of producing oil and are not expected to make a significant contribution to future profitability as demand for oil goes down over the next couple of decades and hence again the downward pressure on the SP.
This is why I have repeatedly posted that sometime over the next year management has to put together a plan to get into the renewables business in a size and scope that can make a meaningful contribution to future FCF. IMO if they don't then the SP will continue to go lower because of Point 1 and 2 above.
In fairness to managment, the problem is that most renewables energy projects have been bid up in price and so it is very difficult to find a project to invest in where the return meets reasonable benchmarks. That said I do believe that such such projects do exist and in an earlier post gave India as a possible target.
As well, I do share the concern of others here who have posted here that perhaps SU managment doesn't have the people to make this transition. However, this is not a difficult problem to solve - all they need to do is find people to hire who can do it and/or JV with companies which the necessary expertise.
The future of the SP will depend on whether management has the imagination and drive to make this transition or not. If they do then the current SP is a steal. If they don't then it will be a classic value trap.