Big oil cash return resilience in spotlight for 2025 - BofA
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BIG OIL CASH RETURN RESILIENCE IN SPOTLIGHT FOR 2025 - BOFA
When it comes to Big Oil, Bank of America is on a quest for cash return resilience - understandable given they anticipate an average cut of about 15% to buybacks in the space next year.
And some European names are showing more promise than others.
After two years of bumper profits for large petroleum producers, a drop in the price of oil means abundant shareholder payouts are under pressure.
BofA analysts said they see Big Oil's underlying cash flow from operations dropping another 10% quarter-on-quarter, in turn squeezing free cash flow as aggregate cash return payouts move further above 100%. Such an outlook makes cash return resilience all the more important.
They highlight France's TotalEnergies' TTEF.PA commitment to its buyback run rate into 2025 but they don't think that will be matched by many peers.
"In fact, we see Repsol as the next to struggle alongside weak 3Q24 results (we assume zero buybacks for 4Q24)," they write.
Along with TotalEnergies, Shell and Equinor also get a buy-rating from BofA, with the trio showing the most cash returns resilience.
Most of these decisions will be announced alongside full-year 2024 results in three month's time, they say.
When it comes to assessing the outlook for shareholder returns, it all comes down to the price of brent crude oil, and the level at which a company can cover its shareholder payouts.
"We see Shell breaking even at ~$65/bbl, while Galp, Repsol and OMV require prices above ~$110/bbl in 2025 to cover payouts with organic cash flows," write the BofA analysts.
The price of brent LCOC1 is around $74.4 bbl as of 1128 GMT on Thursday.
(Lucy Raitano)
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