Andreas Halvorsen (Trades, Portfolio), founding partner of Viking Global Investors, bought his fifth energy stock since just the beginning of the year with about 54.8 million shares in Encana Corp. (ECA, Financial) on Jan. 20 at $3.50 per share.
The North American energy producer develops diverse resource plays producing natural gas, oil and NGLs. Encana was formed in 2002 through the merger between Alberta Energy and PanCanadian Energy. The stock has plunged 70% in the past year and is down 23% year to date.
The day before his Encana purchase, Halvorsen bought a stake in Gulfport Energy (GPOR, Financial), picking up more than 7.8 million shares. His other energy buys for the year so far are Range Resources (RRC, Financial), Cabot Oil & Gas (COG, Financial) and Southwestern Energy (SWN, Financial).
During the third quarter, Encana reported loss per share of $1.47, compared with EPS of $3.79 in the year-ago quarter. On an annual basis, EPS has trended upward since 2012.
Encana reported in its earnings release that it was on track to deliver 2015 cash flow guidance of $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion. Liquids production increased 35% year over year, making it the eighth consecutive quarter of growth.
The Eagle Ford assets continued to grow in the third quarter with production up 18% over the previous quarter. Encana also cut drilling and completion costs by $2.4 million per well since it had entered the play in June 2014.
Halvorsen is one of the legendary Julian Robertson (Trades, Portfolio)’s Tiger Cubs, having worked with the investor at Tiger Management. Halvorsen founded Viking Global in 1999, which today manages about $30 billion.
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