Stock Spin-offs are a good place to make money, right?  They have been reported to be for some time, but does that continue to be true? . . .  in different sectors?  . . . when the spin-offs are for different reasons?

An article on Investopedia has looked at the fate of spin-offs in the energy industry that have occurred in the last year with an eye to just such questions.

They look at Cenovus (CVE), EnCana (ECA), QEP Resources (QEP), and Questar, (STR).

It’s short and doesn’t provide any definitive answers, but it may provide some food for thought.

Tags: Cenova, CVE, ECA, Encana, QEP, QEP Resources, Questar, spin-off stock, stock spin-off, STR

The Questar board of directors affirmed their plan to spin-off their exploration and production components at their recent meeting.

In a press release after the meeting the company said,   “After the spin-off, Questar would remain an integrated natural gas company comprised of subsidiaries Wexpro Company, Questar Pipeline Company, and Questar Gas Company. Questar’s corporate headquarters would remain in Salt Lake City. QEP Resources, Inc. (formerly Questar Market Resources) would be comprised of subsidiaries Questar Exploration & Production, Questar Gas Management, and Questar Energy Trading. Following the spin, the QEP Resources subsidiaries would be renamed QEP Energy, QEP Field Services, and QEP Marketing, respectively. QEP Resources would be headquartered in Denver, Colorado.”

So, they would end up with two companies, one a steady natural gas company that pays dividends, and the other an exploration and production company that is more directly tied to the price of and demand for the commodity.  It sounds logical, so why are they hedging on whether they will actually complete the transaction or not?

If you want to read it in their own words, look at the transcript of the Q&A. What I took from the long answer is that so many things have to be worked out with so many people that at some point you have to let people know what you are doing or it gets strange.  Reading the whole transcript I concluded that  they want to do it.  They believe it is a good idea. It is a very complicated process.

It was noted that they have done business as one entity for 80 years and having two stand alone units is a new thing to them.  And, the number of interconnections with banks, lines of credit, contractual agreements apparently is mind boggling.

For our purposes it was helpful to hear that they will probably be saying very little if anything publicly between now and an announcement that it will or will not go ahead.  So, we wait and watch.

Tags: natural gas, Questar, stock spin-off, STR