Oil stocks have significantly underperformed the market this year. Royal Dutch Shell (LSE: RDSB) has fallen around 54%, while its counterpart BP (LSE: BP) has seen a drop of around 47%. Nonetheless, with Brent Crude now priced above $45, investing in oil stocks looks a far more attractive proposition than it did a couple of months ago. As a result, are BP and Royal Dutch Shell buys at their current prices, and which one is the best pick?
Royal Dutch Shell
Second-quarter earnings for the oil major were understandably very poor. In fact, after an impairment charge of $16.8bn, net income came to a loss of $18.1bn. On the face of it, these earnings paint a very gloomy picture. As such, it’s clear why the Shell share price has fallen nearly 20% since.
Nevertheless, upon further inspection of the earnings, there are a number of positives to take away. For example, on an adjusted earnings basis, the oil stock actually made $638m. While adjusted earnings exclude one-off items and can potentially just ignore all the ‘bad stuff’, it’s still a great sign to see the company making a good profit in this challenging quarter. It also had positive cash flow of $243m. Although this does not cover the dividend as yet, I’m still encouraged that it’s in positive territory. This was mainly the result of the company reducing capital expenditures.
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Consequently, with average oil prices under $30 for the second quarter, I feel the worst may be over for Shell. With third-quarter results due at the end of October, a significant improvement could therefore be met with a sharp increase in the share price.
BP
After both cutting its dividend and announcing further investment into renewable energy, BP shares have fallen 13%. Of course, this does reflect the fact that the oil stock made an underlying loss of $6.7bn.
Even so, the news has not been all negative for BP. For example, the firm has managed to strengthen its finances by issuing $11.9bn in hybrid bonds. Net debt has also been reduced by over $10bn since the first quarter, and this has subsequently seen gearing reduce by 3% to 33%. This contrasts with Shell, where net debt increased by $3bn following the first quarter.
Despite the dividend cut, BP also has a greater dividend yield than Shell. In fact, the dividend is currently yielding around 6%, and there is no indication of a further cut. Instead, management has stated that once BP’s balance sheet has been deleveraged, it can start to return more money to shareholders through share buybacks.
Which oil stock would I buy?
Sitting at prices of 1,085p and 260p respectively, both of these oil stocks look very good value. As a result, I’ve actually invested in both Shell and BP, in anticipation of an oil recovery. If I were forced to choose just one however, I believe that BP offers the most upside potential. Although its transition to greener energy could hit profits in the short term, I think its long-term strategy should help its recovery prospects.
