You may have heard that legendary investor Warren Buffett likes Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) stock. If you want to be like Buffett, you might wonder what he sees in it. As it turns out, there’s plenty to like about Occidental Petroleum’s financials. Plus, value and growth investors can both find reasons to invest today.
Is it actually possible to have value and “momo” or momentum in the same stock? It might seem inconceivable that a single investment can have price propulsion but also be cheap. Yet, as we’ll discover today, it is possible.
Just remember, Buffett doesn’t like shady or unprofitable businesses, and his investment time horizon is very long. So, be patient and conduct your due diligence if you want to invest like Buffett – and take a close look at Occidental Petroleum before the opportunity slips through your hands.
| OXY | Occidental Petroleum | $69.59 |
OXY Stock Moved Higher but Is Still a Bargain
Sure, you can call OXY a “momo” stock since it has more than doubled in 2022. There’s no denying that growth investors should be pleased with this result.
On the other hand, Occidental Petroleum has a trailing 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 5.86x. Clearly, there’s a terrific bargain here. Also, income investors should be glad to learn that the company pays a forward annual dividend yield of 0.72%.
Now, we’re starting to see why Buffett might favor OXY stock. It’s also good to know that macro-level conditions should benefit Occidental Petroleum.
The Energy Information Administration or EIA reported that, during the week ending Nov. 11, crude oil inventories declined 5.4 million barrels. Meanwhile, analysts only expected a decrease of 400,000 barrels. Hence, it appears that there’s an unexpectedly tight oil supply, which could buoy the crude oil price as well as the Occidental Petroleum share price.
Occidental Is a Cash-Rich, Profitable Business
Of course, Buffett doesn’t just like a company because it’s trading at a bargain valuation. The company itself has to be rock-solid. In that regard, Occidental Petroleum passes with flying colors.
For one thing, Occidental Petroleum ended September with a whopping $1.233 billion worth of cash and cash equivalents. In other words, this is a well-capitalized business that should easily be able to fund its future operations.
Additionally, Occidental Petroleum repurchased over 28.4 million of its own shares during 2022’s third quarter. Large-scale share buybacks are often a sign of the management’s confidence in a company.
Also in Q3 2022, Occidental generated $9.501 billion in revenue, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $9.354 billion. Not only that, but the company reported quarterly income of $2.546 billion, showing a huge improvement over the $628 million from the year-earlier quarter.
What You Can Do Now
All of the puzzle pieces are in place for Warren Buffett to like Occidental Petroleum. There’s the “momo” angle, yes, but Buffett is probably more focused on the deep value that OXY stock offers.
So, feel free to do what the Oracle of Omaha himself would do. Most likely, he would conduct thorough research on Occidental Petroleum. Then, if you’re ready to add some shares, now’s a great time as they’re likely to be much more expensive five, 10 and 20 years from now.
On the date of publication, Louis Navellier had a long position in OXY. Louis Navellier did not have (either directly or indirectly) any other positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
The InvestorPlace Research Staff member primarily responsible for this article did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.