GAAPIt didn't take me long to return to comment.
The only entity that cares about GAAP earnings is the CRA. That is because GAAP numbers are often pretty much irrelevant as a measure of the ongoing workings and evaluation of a company.
My takes:
* The Q3 financials won't distract the fact that we now have a new benchmark for what bitumen assets in the ground at a fully operational project are worth today. Regardless of what people think about whether SU "stole" the asset for a song or not, the number will be used for all comparables (the term that real estate agents use) until a new benchmark is set.
* While SU's purchase of Teck's 21% interest in Fort Hills might be a "steal", the new metric will hurt SU and its competitors. Analysts are conservative by nature (being wrong can negatively affect your rating or even cost you your career) so the low acquistion prce will only serve to confirm an already existing bias against oil.
* Are we now looking at M&A deals as a low cost CAPEX strategy and an easy way to circumvent a hostile political environment?
* Operationally, SU kicked asss in Q3. The real question is "will anyone care?"
One of my son's still had 7,000 shares of SU when we spoke yesterday. He is looking to buy a house in the coming months. When I told him that I thought JPow would be taking a sledge hammer to the market today and we might not see the SU share price this high again for awhile, I didn't have to try too hard to convince him to sell, which he did at $48.12 per share. When I asked him why he decided to sell, he said "if you think it is time to sell, that is good enough for me". When your kids become adults and have their own families, you take what you can get.