Buzz on the Bullboards: Bulls on the Buzzboards

Do you believe in parallel dimensions, alternate realities?

Somewhere where there is no COVID, European tensions are just that – tense, market volatility is kept to a minimum. It is here, perhaps, in the inversed Buzz, where everything is “fine” … but invariably, without turmoil, the returns are not fine.

The energy sector hit its highest in more than five years on soaring oil prices this week. Markets have suffered from the volatility and investors remain cautious as rising energy costs fuelled inflationary concerns. Oil prices continued its rally as traders try to assess the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the world economy.

Canada’s energy market has seen a lot of upward movement of late with crude prices spiking to their highest levels since 2008. If you ask any of the regular users on Stockhouse's Bullboards, this trend is likely to continue.



A Calgary-based oil and gas company that operates in Canada and the United States has seen its shares climb nearly 13% this week alone, since releasing its 2021 earnings.

Baytex Energy Corp. (TSX: BTE, Forum) recently told its shareholders that, looking to the future, the company can expect to benefit from its diversified oil weighted portfolio and allocating capital effectively. The company deployed a capital program designed to generate stable production from its light and heavy oil assets in Canada and the Eagle Ford in the United States, while scaling up development in the Clearwater.

The company’s 2022 guidance remains unchanged, targeting production of 80,000 to 83,000 boe/d with exploration and development expenditures of $400 to $450 million. Based on the forward strip, we expect to generate over $550 million of free cash flow min 2022.

2021 Highlights:

• Adjusted cash flow per share increased 140% to $745 million
• Net debt was reduced by 24% to $1.4 billion
• Q4 production rose 15% to over 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d)
• Free cash flow increased over 2,000% to $421 million

Baytex Energy’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Ed LaFehr explained that in 2021, the team made a commitment to maintain capital discipline, maximize free cash flow and reduce the company’s net debt.

“I am very pleased to say we delivered on all fronts with strong operational execution, record free cash flow and a significantly improved balance sheet. With continued operating momentum and current commodity prices, we expect to generate over $550 million of free cash flow in 2022 and reach our initial $1.2 billion net debt target during the second quarter. As a result, we are announcing the next phase of our return of capital framework, which includes allocating approximately 25% of our free cash flow to share buybacks commencing in the second quarter. We are also following up our success in the Clearwater where we now have four of the top five initial rate wells drilled to date in the play.”

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Elsewhere in the market, it has been a sea of solid earnings news:

Athabasca Oil Corp, (TSX: ATH, Forum) reported this week production of 35,147 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) (91% Liquids) in Q4 2021 and 34,618 boe/d (90% Liquids) in 2021. This exceeded original annual guidance of 31-33,000 boe/d and higher than 2020 production of 32,483 boe/d.

CGX Energy Inc. (TSX-V: OYL, Forum) released details about the findings from the independent laboratory that analyzed its Kawa-1 well samples of cuttings from the four pay intervals in the Santonian. Kawa-1 was a first stage exploration well intended to identify the presence of hydrocarbons, which occurred. The lab found indications of the presence of liquid hydrocarbons in the reservoir from the Santonian interval.

Vermilion Energy Inc. (TSX: VET, Forum) declared its Q4 2021 fund flows from operations at $322 million (CAD), an increase of 23% from the previous quarter. The company noted increase was primarily due to higher commodity prices, especially European natural gas which increased approximately 88% compared to the previous quarter. Cash flow from operating activities was $250 million (CAD) in Q4 2021. Net earnings increased to $345 million (CAD) in Q4 2021, compared to a net loss of $147 million (CAD) in the prior quarter. The improvement in net earnings was primarily due to higher fund flows and lower unrealized hedging losses which is accounted for on a mark-to-market basis. Production in Q4 2021 averaged 84,417 boe/d(, which was relatively consistent with the previous quarter. Cash flow used in investing activities totaled $135 million (CAD) and included exploration and development capital expenditures of $146 million (CAD) in Q4, resulting in $176 million (CAD) of free cash flow.



The big news in the cannabis space has undoubtedly been news of Tilray Inc. (TSX: TLRY, Forum) acquiring a portion of HEXO Corp. (TSX: HEXO, Forum) debt. Under the agreement, Tilray will be able to acquire a “significant equity ownership position” in Hexo. The purchase suggests that Tilray has the right to convert the notes into 37% of Hexo’s outstanding shares, as it will acquire up to $211 million of Hexo’s senior secured convertible notes. Since the notes are convertible.

HEXO’s President and CEO Scott Cooper explained in a news release on this that his top priority since he joined in November 2021 had been to fix a “very challenged balance sheet and after an exhaustive search for alternatives, found the most optimal agreement to strengthen that balance sheet, preserve value for shareholders and provide HEXO with the capital to execute on its “Path Forward plan”.

“This strategic alliance will help lower our costs, preserves our stand-alone optionality and we look forward to reaching a definitive agreement shortly.”

Speaking to investors in his own statement, Tilray Brands’ Chairman and CEO, Irwin Simon added that this proposed transaction would be a win-win for both companies as it would launch a strategic partnership between two leading Canadian cannabis producers with complementary brand portfolios.

“For us, it provides a path for meaningful future equity ownership of HEXO and enables us to participate in HEXO’s share price appreciation as it continues to execute on its growth initiatives. We also expect to realize further commercial and production efficiency savings of up to $50 million (CAD) within two years, which would be shared equally and would allow us to continue being the leading, low-cost Canadian producer. I look forward to working with HEXO’s management team and Board to create additional brand and shareholder value.”

Meanwhile, Reliq Health Technologies Inc. (TSX-V: RHT, Forum), a health company that specializes in developing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for remote patient monitoring, telemedicine, and care collaboration, has signed five new contracts with physician practices in Nevada, California and Texas.

Reliq CEO, Dr. Lisa Crossley said the team is eager to expand into Nevada with three new physician practices.

“Over 1 million residents of Nevada have chronic conditions like hypertension, arthritis, diabetes and kidney disease. Nevada is ranked 47th out of 50 US States in terms of the ratio of physicians to residents, making access to care a significant challenge for patients across the State. Using Reliq’s iUGO Care platform, clinicians in Nevada can provide high quality, proactive, preventative care to more patients, improving access to care and health outcomes for at-risk patients. We are also pleased to add two new primary practices in California and Texas. Together these five clients are expected to add over 2,500 new patients to Reliq’s platform. We expect to begin onboarding patients from these practices in April 2022 and to generate revenue of $50 per patient per month.”


(Video via Reliq Health Technologies Inc. Click to play.)

The team followed this up with another announcement this week that it had also signed contracts with six primary care clinics and a Maxillofacial Surgery practice in Nevada.

CEO Crossley added that the company is working to grow its customer base in the state as rapidly as it can.

“The primary care organization brings six clinics and over 3,000 eligible patients to our iUGO Care platform at an average revenue of $50 per patient per month. We are very excited to also be expanding into the Maxillofacial Surgery space through our new contract with an oral surgery practice in Nevada. Oral surgeons can generate new revenue by using iUGO Care to provide pre and post-op monitoring and care management for their diabetic patients. Once the patient has successfully recovered from surgery their care can be transferred back to the primary care physician for ongoing monitoring through iUGO Care, providing the primary care physician with immediate access to an already established recurring revenue stream.

Reliq expects to generate more than $450 per patient per surgery for short-term monitoring, followed by recurring revenue of $50 per patient per month as care is transferred back to the patient’s primary care physician. Each oral surgery practice typically works closely with multiple physician practices, providing Reliq with a new channel through which we can access new primary care clients.”

Reliq’s iUGO Care platform supports care coordination and community-based virtual healthcare. iUGO Care provides real-time access to remote patient monitoring data, allowing for timely interventions by the care team to prevent costly hospital readmissions and emergency department visits.




Acceleware Ltd. (TSX-V: AXE, Forum) is a Canadian clean-tech innovator of radio frequency heating technologies that enable the electrification of industrial heat dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The company is launching a non-brokered private placement of 10% unsecured convertible debentures for approximate gross proceeds of $1.5 million.

Each debenture matures four years after the issue date and is convertible into units of Acceleware at a conversion price of $0.80.

Each unit consists of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder to acquire one common share, at an exercise price equal to 200% of the conversion price of the debentures, for a 24-month period following the distribution of the debentures.

Acceleware expects to close the offering no later than April 15, 2022.

Net proceeds will be used to fund the further development and testing of Acceleware’s radio frequency heating technology and for general corporate purposes. Purchasers of the debentures will be subject to a four-month hold period in accordance with securities legislation.

POET Technologies Inc. (TSX-V: PTK, Forum) has introduced its 400G FR4 and 800G Receive (RX) Optical Engines based on its unique hybrid silicon photonics platform this week.

POET’s Optical platform is a hybrid integration technology that allows high-speed communication among all devices. The POET 400G FR4 Receive Optical Engine Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) is the industry’s only single-chip integrated version of an FR4 RX Optical Engine available. It can process over 500 devices at the same time and offers cost advantages that apply to a dual 400G FR4 Receive solution.

Chief Technology Officer of Surinno Photonics, Ben Chen praised POET Technologies for its move to utilize its platform concept to provide easy-to-use optical engines for the data communications market with rapid deployment and demonstrations of 100G/200G TX-RX engines and also 400G FR4 engines.

The advantages are derived from the POET Optical Interposer platform and enable the integration of "best of breed" photonic components onto a single chip without any expensive active alignment requirements.


(Video via POET Technologies Inc. Click to play.)

The products demonstrate four unique features that when combined, create a “superior” solution compared to either standard free-space optics or silicon photonics-based engines.

The company’s Chairman and CEO, Dr. Suresh Venkatesan noted that the product represents a true semiconductorization of photonic engines using traditional pick and place bonding equipment and passive alignment of photonics devices…

“We also provide the ability to rapidly scale production to meet the demands of this fast-growing market.”

The 400G and 800G Optical Engines will be manufactured and provided by Super Photonics Xiamen. It is forecasted that the market for 400G and 800G Ethernet transceiver modules will exceed $2 billion annually by 2024.

Finally, we have a name change for investors to take note of: The company formally known as Extreme Vehicle Battery Technologies Corp. is now Cryptoblox Technologies Inc. (Forum) and has changed its stock trading symbol on the Canadian Securities exchange from ACDC to BLOX.

The CSE announced that shares begin trading under the new name, symbol and with a new CUSIP number this week.

To a glance at our survey, the price of gold has been in focus among traders this past week. Looking at the results of our Investor Pulse Poll, it still weighs on minds today.



The precious metal recently eclipsed $2,000 (USD) / Oz. thanks to its status as a safe haven asset. While that value has calmed a little, it could be said that it will achieve this high again, if not higher. What do you think? Let us know your prediction by clicking the poll below.



(Click image to vote.)


For previous editions of Buzz on the Bullboards: click here.

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