2018 | 2019 | ||||||
Price: | 10.03 | EPS | 0 | 0 | |||
Shares Out. (in M): | 174 | P/E | 0 | 0 | |||
Market Cap (in $M): | 1,741 | P/FCF | 0 | 0 | |||
Net Debt (in $M): | 2,121 | EBIT | 0 | 0 | |||
TEV (in $M): | 3,862 | TEV/EBIT | 0 | 0 |
Sign up for free guest access to view investment idea with a 45 days delay.
Investment Thesis – Undervalued relative to peers despite strong performance, with production growing at 14% CAGR through 2020 and cash flow yield of ~5% (after capex), and potential to become catalyst driven
Upside – GPOR offers a utility type asset with infrastructure returns and long reserve life. Meanwhile shares trade at a discount to peers and historical levels despite 14% production CAGR, while spending within CF @strip. GPOR currently trading at ~4.2x ’18 EBITDAX vs. ~6.7x for peers and its own 5yr historical average EV/EBITDAX multiple of 7.7x. Further, the recently announced JV sale will provide more firepower for repurchases, which are incremental to the 5% of shares OS that GPOR already bought back earlier this year.
Production efficiency is another key to the story. GPOR’s Mgmt team was highly regarded prior to the SCOOP acquisition, and they are demonstrating their reputation with recent drilling results. Initially the SCOOP acquisition was a negative, as it was overpriced, however this is already priced in, as it led to shares dropping from ~$30 to $10-11. Recent well production growth has been impressive. GPOR’s Utica wells are now close to 5x more productive than 6-7 years ago, while Cash costs have fallen 40% over the last 3yrs. SCOOP laterals are up 26% YoY (and should continue to increase) and GPOR’s total production is expected to be up ~20% in 2018 thanks to SCOOP productivity. Meanwhile SCOOP also provides GPOR with some diversification benefits as has it has a higher concentration of liquids and also reduces their exposure to Appalachia pricing.
Downside – High oil prices can weigh on gassy E&Ps indirectly, as it can lead to increased servicer costs as well as lower realized prices due to increased associated gas production. SCOOP oversupply could be an issue in the next few years as the basin is expected to grow production ~40% from 2017 to 2020, and only one pipeline (Midship) is expected to alleviate some of this.
Company Overview– Gulfport is a gassy focused E&P with principal properties located in the Utica Shale (primarily in Eastern Ohio) and the SCOOP (Woodford and SCOOP Springer plays in Oklahoma). GPOR also has a relatively small amount of acreage in Southern Louisiana, along with some small minority interests in a variety of other formations. The other notable assets are GPOR’s stake in TUSK and its JV stake in the recently sold midstream asset (StrikeForce).
Reserves & Production – GPOR has ~215k net acres in Utica, with proved reserves of 3.9 Net Tcfe and another ~92.5k net acres in SCOOP with proved reserves of 1.5 Net Tcfe. Liquids are ~10% of these reserves. GPOR also has ~11k net acres in Southern Louisiana that contribute ~1% of total net production (99% of which is oil).
Total proved reserves at YE’17 of 5.4 Tcfe or ~900m BOE (equating to 4.9 BOE/sh), with 35% of proved developed, representing PV-10 value of $2.88b. At 2018 production levels of 80m BOE, this equates to a reserve life of over 11yrs. Given expectations of production of 87mmboe in ’19 and 97mmboe in ’20, and assuming production grows ~10% annually, GPOR’s proved reserves should last until 2025. GPOR’s unproven reserves are estimated by analysts to be at least as much as the proved reserves, and potentially double to triple this size. Gulfport’s Consensus NAV is $16 (per CapIQ)
Currently the Utica Shale assets account for 80% of total production, while SCOOP production is ~20%. GPOR plans to spend of bulk of its capex on Utica in 2018, but will begin to shift more spending toward SCOOP in the future as the production mix (more oil and liquids) and rate of return there make it more competitive.
The company’s infrastructure feeds 30% of production in-basin Utica, ~27% to the Midwest, ~27% to Gulf Coast, ~10% to the Mid-Con and ~5% to Canada.
Situation –
In terms of efficiency, GPOR’s Utica wells are close to 5x more productive than 6-7yrs ago as Utica lateral lengths are expected to hit ~8,000 feet in 2018, with new wells expected to average closer to 11.2k feet. SCOOP lateral lengths for TILs is to increase from 6,800 ft in 2017 to 8,600 ft in 2018, while new wells drilled will have an average lateral length of 8,900 feet, and should mean even longer laterals for TILs in 2019.
Per unit operating expense totaled $0.88 per Mcfe during Q1’2018 and these are expected to continue to decline as production grows
Net debt of $2.12b represents net leverage of 2.3x ’18 cons EBITDA ($924m) and ~1.7x net of asset sales and shares in TUSK
Adjusting Net Debt for the $175m in proceeds to be received from the recent sale of their stake in the StrikeForce JV ( and another $400m for the value of their stake in TUSK, this translates to net debt of $1.55b (representing 1.7x net leverage)
Catalysts
Supply – Demand of Nat Gas Market – Investors are concerned that supply growth out of Haynesville and Appalachia along with associated gas from the Permian will outpace demand growth. Despite these concerns, overall US gas inventories currently remain well below both their year ago levels and their 5-year averages. According to Jefferies’ analyst, if Nat Gas production continues at its current increased rate of +7.2bcf/d higher than last year, the current supply and demand situation still points to inventories being ~10% lower level than last year at the end of this year’s refill season (late October) thanks to higher usage from domestic electric generation and LNG plants.
Buybacks – GPOR can repurchase +5% of shares O/S per year at current levels
Activist involvement
Sale of Company
show sort by |
Are you sure you want to close this position GULFPORT ENERGY CORP?
By closing position, I’m notifying VIC Members that at today’s market price, I no longer am recommending this position.
Are you sure you want to Flag this idea GULFPORT ENERGY CORP for removal?
Flagging an idea indicates that the idea does not meet the standards of the club and you believe it should be removed from the site. Once a threshold has been reached the idea will be removed.
You currently do not have message posting privilages, there are 1 way you can get the privilage.
Apply for or reactivate your full membership
You can apply for full membership by submitting an investment idea of your own. Or if you are in reactivation status, you need to reactivate your full membership.
What is wrong with message, "".