I have no idea why Buffet is b

2023-05-21

I have no idea why Buffet is buying oil where as Fed isn't Backing Off from their agenda! If recession is on the green light zone, everything would tend to fall apart.

Occidental Petroleum: Warren Buffett Buys Again, So Should You?

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Comments

alexj
2023-05-23
alexj
it's really odd
MoonJin
2023-05-22
MoonJin
ok
Bons
2023-05-22
Bons
ok

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{"i18n":{"language":"en_US"},"detailType":1,"isChannel":false,"data":{"magic":2,"id":9970512497,"tweetId":"9970512497","gmtCreate":1684678372119,"gmtModify":1684678624949,"author":{"id":3559546385259983,"idStr":"3559546385259983","authorId":3559546385259983,"authorIdStr":"3559546385259983","name":"Lord_Kuberan","avatar":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/9e82384ce5c6aef5201a6f95f219f3be","vip":1,"userType":1,"introduction":"","boolIsFan":false,"boolIsHead":false,"crmLevel":2,"crmLevelSwitch":1,"individualDisplayBadges":[],"fanSize":15,"starInvestorFlag":false},"themes":[],"images":[],"coverImages":[],"html":"<html><head></head><body>I have no idea why Buffet is buying oil where as Fed isn't Backing Off from their agenda! If recession is on the green light zone, everything would tend to fall apart.&nbsp;</body></html>","htmlText":"<html><head></head><body>I have no idea why Buffet is buying oil where as Fed isn't Backing Off from their agenda! If recession is on the green light zone, everything would tend to fall apart.&nbsp;</body></html>","text":"I have no idea why Buffet is buying oil where as Fed isn't Backing Off from their agenda! If recession is on the green light zone, everything would tend to fall apart.","highlighted":1,"essential":1,"paper":1,"likeSize":3,"commentSize":3,"repostSize":0,"favoriteSize":0,"link":"https://ttm.financial/post/9970512497","repostId":2336702514,"repostType":2,"repost":{"id":"2336702514","kind":"highlight","pubTimestamp":1684499621,"share":"https://www.laohu8.com/m/news/2336702514?lang=&edition=full","pubTime":"2023-05-19 20:33","market":"us","language":"en","title":"Occidental Petroleum: Warren Buffett Buys Again, So Should You?","url":"https://stock-news.laohu8.com/highlight/detail?id=2336702514","media":"seekingalpha","summary":"SummaryWarren Buffett's recent purchases of OXY prove he's a good market timer, as his buys coincide","content":"<html><head></head><body><h2 style=\"text-align: left;\">Summary</h2><ul><li>Warren Buffett&#39;s recent purchases of OXY prove he&#39;s a good market timer, as his buys coincided with the OXY stock reaching its supply zone.</li><li>Despite some weaknesses during Q1, OXY demonstrated some improvements in its financial position, as far as I see it.</li><li>OXY&#39;s superior FCF yield [TTM] could be a key factor that attracted Warren Buffett to invest in OXY, seeking a liquid company with strong management.</li><li>Currently, OXY&#39;s stock is valued at 12 times FY2023 earnings, and the projected year-over-year EPS decline of nearly -48% seems too pessimistic to me.</li><li>I reiterate my previous Buy rating on OXY stock and support Goldman&#39;s target of $77 per share.</li></ul><img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/108ebd816bbc0b428f13945dd3c1bd30\" alt=\"Paul Morigi\" title=\"Paul Morigi\" tg-width=\"750\" tg-height=\"500\"/>Paul Morigi<h2>Intro &amp; Thesis</h2>I&#39;ve been covering the stock of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) here on Seeking Alpha since early October 2022, and that time coincided with a fairly difficult period of falling energy commodity prices, so most major oil and gas companies experienced a rather difficult period of increased volatility.<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/59f053060a094fbe58bda98c94f2aecb\" alt=\"Data by YCharts\" title=\"Data by YCharts\" tg-width=\"635\" tg-height=\"433\"/>Data by YChartsThe increased volatility hasn&#39;t bypassed OXY. However, the recent turbulence in the stock&#39;s price has provided many savvy investors with an excellent opportunity to increase their allocation. Just a few hours ago, it was revealed that Warren Buffett purchased an additional $200 million [or ~ 3.46 million shares] in OXY stock from May 16-18, 2023, according to the recent SEC filing.<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/9d8edc99d7f416c869e5fb18ba20d3f4\" alt=\"SEC, author&#39;s notes\" title=\"SEC, author&#39;s notes\" tg-width=\"640\" tg-height=\"176\"/>SEC, author&#39;s notesIn total, Berkshire now owns more than 217.3 million shares of Occidental Petroleum, valued at approximately $12.7 billion. Additionally, Berkshire holds around $9.5 billion worth of Occidental preferred stock, which carries an 8% annual dividend, and has warrants to purchase $5 billion worth of Occidental common shares for $59.62 per share.These purchases clearly show that Warren Buffett isn&#39;t only a great value investor - he&#39;s also a good market timer, as his recent purchases coincided with the OXY stock reaching its supply zone on the price chart:<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/864d170ce8f84b7ad2d89e287c805a7b\" alt=\"TrendSpider Software, author&#39;s notes\" title=\"TrendSpider Software, author&#39;s notes\" tg-width=\"640\" tg-height=\"323\"/>TrendSpider Software, author&#39;s notesAs in my last article on OXY from March 2023, I still see quite favorable long-term prospects for the company, and the way Warren Buffett is behaving toward the stock only indirectly confirms my conclusions. In fact, there are some fundamental reasons for retail investors to follow Mr. Buffett. Let&#39;s look at them together.<h2>What Are The Reasons To Follow Buffett&#39;s Buys?</h2>It&#39;s been a long time since last March and the company managed to report for Q1 FY2023 [May 9, 2023] - let&#39;s first take a quick look at the operational and financial results.OXY&#39;s first-quarter results showed adjusted EPS and cash flow from operations [CFO] of $1.09 billion and $3.15 billion, respectively. This missed the consensus forecast of $1.24 per share and $3.12 billion in CFO, according to FactSet data [proprietary source]. The underperformance was primarily attributed to the midstream business and non-cash adjustments related to taxes and other factors. Capital expenditures in the first quarter were $1.46 billion, slightly deviating from the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. Free cash flow for the quarter was $1.7 billion. Of note, OXY repurchased $752 million of common stock and redeemed $647 million of preferred stock.Lower earnings were primarily due to decreased prices for crude oil (-19% YoY), natural gas liquids (-38%), and natural gas (-28%). However, higher production and reduced interest expense partially offset this decline. Revenue also decreased by 14% compared to the previous year, reaching $7.225 billion, falling short of the consensus forecast of $7.617 billion.In the Oil and Gas division, the pretax net profit for Q1 2023 was $1.640 billion, down from $2.898 billion in the previous year. This decline was mainly a result of lower realized prices for commodities. Average daily production increased by nearly 13% to 1,220 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboe/d), driven by higher international production and strength in the Permian, Rocky Mountain, and Gulf of Mexico regions.For the Chemicals division [OxyChem], pretax earnings in the first quarter dropped by 30% compared to the prior year, amounting to $472 million. This decline was attributed to lower polyvinyl prices, reduced volume in most product lines, and narrower margins due to weaker chemical pricing. On a positive note, the division benefited from lower raw material costs.The Midstream and Marketing segment reported a pretax profit of $2 million in Q1 2023, in contrast to a pretax loss of $50 million in the same quarter of the previous year. This shift to profitability was primarily driven by the favorable timing impact of crude oil sales and improved gas margins.Management has provided guidance numbers for the second quarter and full year 2023 production and financials - I feel it necessary to share with you not only the bare numbers but also how Goldman Sachs analysts evaluate the management&#39;s forecasts in its recently published [May 10, 2023] note on OXY&#39;s Q1 results:<table style=\"border-collapse:collapse;\"><tbody><tr><td style=\"text-align:left;\">Q2 FY2023</td><td style=\"text-align:left;\">Full-year 2023</td></tr><tr><td style=\"text-align:left;\"><ul><li>Total production is expected to range from 1,156 to 1,196 MBOE/d, with Goldman Sachs estimating it at 1,183 MBOE/d and the consensus forecast at 1,186 MBOE/d.</li><li>Oil production is projected to be between 595 and 616 Mb/d, with Goldman Sachs estimating 632 Mb/d and the consensus at 641 Mb/d.</li><li>Pre-tax chemical income is anticipated to be approximately $415 million [$391 million according to Goldman Sachs];</li><li>Pre-tax midstream and marketing income is anticipated to be -$50 million in the midrange [-$79 million according to Goldman Sachs]</li></ul></td><td style=\"text-align:left;\"><ul><li>Total production guidance is set at 1,170 to 1,220 MBOE/d, compared to the previous range of 1,150 to 1,210 MBOE/d. Goldman Sachs estimates it at 1,182 MBOE/d, while the consensus forecast is 1,188 MBOE/d.</li><li>Oil production is projected to be between 618 and 644 Mb/d, compared to the previous range of 610 to 641 Mb/d. Goldman Sachs estimates it at 628 Mb/d, and the consensus is 642 Mb/d.</li><li>The capital expenditure guidance remains unchanged at $5.4-$6.2 billion.</li><li>Pre-tax chemical income is expected to be in the range of $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion, with Goldman Sachs estimating it at $1.5 billion.</li><li>Pre-tax income for the midstream and marketing segment remains unchanged at -$100 million to +$100 million [Goldman anticipates -$37 million].</li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>Source: Author&#39;s work, based on OXY&#39;s data and Goldman Sachs [proprietary source]As you can see, Goldman Sachs analysts see a much bleaker future for OXY than the management articulates to the market. You&#39;d think that the bank would be bearish. But we see an opposite picture:<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/e2e101d52e61ddb0e16c43e9cc04b7d2\" alt=\"GS [May 10, 2023], proprietary source\" title=\"GS [May 10, 2023], proprietary source\" tg-width=\"640\" tg-height=\"378\"/>GS [May 10, 2023], proprietary sourceEven with an EBITDA decline of ~30% in FY2023 [YoY], Goldman sets a 12-month price target of $77 per share, which gives OXY an upside potential of ~32.2% over the next 6 months or so as of the last close. That&#39;s a huge upside, in my opinion.Despite some weaknesses during Q1, OXY demonstrated some improvements in its financial position, as far as I see it. Its total debt/capitalization ratio decreased from 52.2% to 41.8% compared to the previous year; the total debt decreased from $27.202 billion to $20.805 billion, primarily resulting from the Anadarko acquisition. Short-term borrowings stood at $565.0 million at the end of the quarter.<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/4b276a7fb21fdc4edaa150d27bcaecca\" alt=\"Data by YCharts\" title=\"Data by YCharts\" tg-width=\"635\" tg-height=\"435\"/>Data by YChartsBefore Q1, OXY was a confident leader in terms of FCF returns, which I mentioned in the last article. Now we see that FCF per share has dropped a bit, but still has an edge over the other peers:<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/b8c8cc01d324389ba6cd7118c2ede151\" alt=\"Data by YCharts\" title=\"Data by YCharts\" tg-width=\"635\" tg-height=\"540\"/>Data by YChartsAt the same time, OXY still far outperforms its peers based on the TTM metric - the FCF yield displayed by YCharts. As I suggested earlier, this may have been why Warren Buffett chose OXY when he was looking for a sufficiently liquid company with high-quality management to invest his money in.<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/b57d9cc8a72297c9fc3bdbdf3d5e08b1\" alt=\"Data by YCharts\" title=\"Data by YCharts\" tg-width=\"635\" tg-height=\"484\"/>Data by YChartsOXY concentrates its development efforts on the high-yield core areas of the Permian Basin and parts of the Middle East. As I&#39;ve written in previous articles, these areas are the most promising and profitable when it comes to increasing production with high-profit margins.We also know that Occidental plans to limit its capital spending on low-carbon initiatives to $600 million this year. Hollub highlighted the current lack of external funding for additional direct air capture [DAC] plants beyond the one being built in Texas. Hollub stated that Occidental&#39;s production would recover throughout the year following maintenance-related stoppages concentrated in Q1. The company intends to continue repurchasing preferred stock but requires an oil price of $75 per barrel to do so.And the relative stability of the oil price seems to be more obvious at the moment than it was about a month ago. One of the reasons for this was the news that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve [SPR] could be replenished as early as June, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said on May 11, 2023. Earlier the SPR repurchases were expected to begin in Q4 FY2023 after completing maintenance on storage sites in Texas and Louisiana. In the meantime, the administration has been depleting the SPR over the past six weeks, ZeroHedge reports:<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/22d62b7a6ffb7357683880f82b50c467\" alt=\"ZeroHedge [May 12, 2023], a proprietary source\" title=\"ZeroHedge [May 12, 2023], a proprietary source\" tg-width=\"638\" tg-height=\"455\"/>ZeroHedge [May 12, 2023], a proprietary sourceEven without the upcoming SPR replenishment, oil prices continue to hold above $70/b - and this is despite recession expectations [which I support] being near historic highs.<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/ff30b1858692fede078d4687a7fb0957\" alt=\"BofA [May 16, 2023], a proprietary source\" title=\"BofA [May 16, 2023], a proprietary source\" tg-width=\"640\" tg-height=\"380\"/>BofA [May 16, 2023], a proprietary sourceWhat happens if these expectations fall due to an actual recession or a soft landing? These are slightly different scenarios, but given the relative strength of the U.S. economy and the reluctance of the Saudi&#39;s to repeat the mistakes of Covid-19, I expect oil prices to recover quickly and continue to rise higher. It&#39;s not yet priced in by the positioning of the market&#39;s participants, as far as I see:<img src=\"https://static.tigerbbs.com/5017a7bbc50939f7186101a4f91eae32\" alt=\"BofA [May 16, 2023], a proprietary source\" title=\"BofA [May 16, 2023], a proprietary source\" tg-width=\"640\" tg-height=\"367\"/>BofA [May 16, 2023], a proprietary sourceAs we know, long-term investors like Buffett use temporary difficulties to outperform the market over the long term, not the short term. And the systematic underinvestment in the industry that continues to this day suggests that quality oil companies like OXY will thrive in the long run and reward their shareholders either through buybacks or dividends. The most important thing is strong FCF, and that still puts OXY in the best position among other O&amp;G large-caps.<h2>The Verdict</h2>Of course, OXY&#39;s performance is heavily influenced by fluctuations in oil prices, which can result in significant volatility in stock prices, earnings, and cash flow, similar to its industry peers. This risk is unavoidable. It&#39;s also important to note that the company does not have substantial production hedges in place to mitigate this risk. Additionally, OXY investors are exposed to trends in global economic growth and interest rates, which can further impact the company&#39;s financial performance.Another risk is the company&#39;s debt. As an Argus Research analyst wrote in his May 17, 2023 note [proprietary source], while profits at most E&amp;P companies are benefiting from increased demand, Argus believes that low debt is prudent in a rising interest rate environment and that Occidental&#39;s current 41% leverage ratio is too high. They also believe that the liquefied natural gas and offshore assets acquired from Anadarko aren&#39;t a good strategic fit for Occidental and that it&#39;ll take more time to achieve sustainable revenue and earnings growth from these assets.However, despite the significant risks outlined above, I believe that OXY will continue to enjoy the support of Warren Buffett&#39;s dip-buying activities going forward, as the company remains one of the best FCF generators of its size despite all the headwinds.Currently, OXY&#39;s stock is valued at 12 times FY2023 earnings, and the projected year-over-year EPS decline of nearly -48% seems too pessimistic to me. The company will likely continue to reduce the number of shares outstanding, and thus its EPS should remain more stable than price-in if oil prices remain at current levels or even fall a bit further. I don&#39;t expect a significant drop in the oil price though - the many recession expectations failed to drop the price, and now that those expectations are falling off their peak levels [with or without an actual recession], the downward trend seems limited.I reiterate my previous Buy rating on OXY stock and support Goldman&#39;s target of $77 per share.Thank you for reading! Please, let me know what you think in the comment section below!</body></html>","source":"seekingalpha","collect":0,"html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\" />\n<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,minimum-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no\"/>\n<meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,email=no,address=no\" />\n<title>Occidental Petroleum: Warren Buffett Buys Again, So Should You?</title>\n<style type=\"text/css\">\na,abbr,acronym,address,applet,article,aside,audio,b,big,blockquote,body,canvas,caption,center,cite,code,dd,del,details,dfn,div,dl,dt,\nem,embed,fieldset,figcaption,figure,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,header,hgroup,html,i,iframe,img,ins,kbd,label,legend,li,mark,menu,nav,\nobject,ol,output,p,pre,q,ruby,s,samp,section,small,span,strike,strong,sub,summary,sup,table,tbody,td,tfoot,th,thead,time,tr,tt,u,ul,var,video{ font:inherit;margin:0;padding:0;vertical-align:baseline;border:0 }\nbody{ font-size:16px; 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}\n.meta {color:#5e5c6d;font-size:13px;margin:0 0 .5em; }\na{text-decoration:none; color:#2a4b87;}\n.meta .head { display: inline-block; overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 11px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;line-height: 11px;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\nOccidental Petroleum: Warren Buffett Buys Again, So Should You?\n</h2>\n\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n\n\n2023-05-19 20:33 GMT+8&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=https://seekingalpha.com/article/4605976-occidental-petroleum-warren-buffett-buys-again-so-should-you>seekingalpha</a>\n\n\n</h4>\n\n</header>\n<article>\n<div>\nSummaryWarren Buffett's recent purchases of OXY prove he's a good market timer, as his buys coincided with the OXY stock reaching its supply zone.Despite some weaknesses during Q1, OXY demonstrated ...\n\n<a href=\"https://seekingalpha.com/article/4605976-occidental-petroleum-warren-buffett-buys-again-so-should-you\">Web Link</a>\n\n</div>\n\n\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","type":0,"thumbnail":"","relate_stocks":{"LU1280957306.USD":"THREADNEEDLE (LUX) US CONTRARIAN CORE EQUITIES \"AUP\" (USD) INC","BK4127":"投资银行业与经纪业","BRK.A":"伯克希尔","LU1914381329.SGD":"Allianz Best Styles Global Equity Cl ET Acc H2-SGD","IE00BSNM7G36.USD":"NEUBERGER BERMAN SYSTEMATIC GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE VALUE \"A\" (USD) ACC","BK4176":"多领域控股","LU0234572021.USD":"高盛美国核心股票组合Acc","OXY":"西方石油","BK4201":"综合性石油与天然气企业","LU0251142724.SGD":"Fidelity America A-SGD","LU1363072403.SGD":"Fidelity Global Financial Services A-ACC-SGD","IE00BWXC8680.SGD":"PINEBRIDGE US LARGE CAP RESEARCH ENHANCED \"A5\" (SGD) ACC","LU0130102774.USD":"Natixis Harris Associates US Equity RA USD","BK4585":"ETF&股票定投概念","BK4534":"瑞士信贷持仓","LU0648001328.SGD":"Natixis Harris Associates US Equity RA SGD","IE00B1BXHZ80.USD":"Legg Mason ClearBridge - US Appreciation A Acc USD","BK4533":"AQR资本管理(全球第二大对冲基金)","IE00B1XK9C88.USD":"PINEBRIDGE US LARGE CAP RESEARCH ENHANCED \"A\" (USD) ACC","LU0971096721.USD":"富达环球金融服务 A","LU1074936037.SGD":"JPMorgan Funds - US Value A (acc) SGD","LU0149725797.USD":"汇丰美国股市经济规模基金","LU0256863811.USD":"ALLIANZ US EQUITY \"A\" INC","BK4588":"碎股","BK4550":"红杉资本持仓","LU1201861249.SGD":"Natixis Harris Associates US Equity PA SGD-H","LU1571399168.USD":"ALLSPRING GLOBAL LONG/SHORT EQUITY \"IP\" (USD) ACC","LU0742534661.SGD":"Fidelity America A-SGD (hedged)","LU0980610538.SGD":"Natixis Harris Associates US Equity RA SGD-H","BK4552":"Archegos爆仓风波概念","IE00B775SV38.USD":"NEUBERGER BERMAN US MULTICAP OPPORTUNITIES \"A\" (USD) ACC","IE00B3S45H60.SGD":"Neuberger Berman US Multicap Opportunities A Acc SGD-H","LU0234570918.USD":"高盛全球核心股票组合Acc Close","LU0417517546.SGD":"Allianz US Equity Cl AT Acc SGD","LU0053666078.USD":"摩根大通基金-美国股票A（离岸）美元","BK4581":"高盛持仓","BK4504":"桥水持仓","LU0640476718.USD":"THREADNEEDLE (LUX) US CONTRARIAN CORE EQ \"AU\" (USD) ACC","BRK.B":"伯克希尔B"},"source_url":"https://seekingalpha.com/article/4605976-occidental-petroleum-warren-buffett-buys-again-so-should-you","is_english":true,"share_image_url":"https://static.laohu8.com/5a36db9d73b4222bc376d24ccc48c8a4","article_id":"2336702514","content_text":"SummaryWarren Buffett's recent purchases of OXY prove he's a good market timer, as his buys coincided with the OXY stock reaching its supply zone.Despite some weaknesses during Q1, OXY demonstrated some improvements in its financial position, as far as I see it.OXY's superior FCF yield [TTM] could be a key factor that attracted Warren Buffett to invest in OXY, seeking a liquid company with strong management.Currently, OXY's stock is valued at 12 times FY2023 earnings, and the projected year-over-year EPS decline of nearly -48% seems too pessimistic to me.I reiterate my previous Buy rating on OXY stock and support Goldman's target of $77 per share.Paul MorigiIntro & ThesisI've been covering the stock of Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) here on Seeking Alpha since early October 2022, and that time coincided with a fairly difficult period of falling energy commodity prices, so most major oil and gas companies experienced a rather difficult period of increased volatility.Data by YChartsThe increased volatility hasn't bypassed OXY. However, the recent turbulence in the stock's price has provided many savvy investors with an excellent opportunity to increase their allocation. Just a few hours ago, it was revealed that Warren Buffett purchased an additional $200 million [or ~ 3.46 million shares] in OXY stock from May 16-18, 2023, according to the recent SEC filing.SEC, author's notesIn total, Berkshire now owns more than 217.3 million shares of Occidental Petroleum, valued at approximately $12.7 billion. Additionally, Berkshire holds around $9.5 billion worth of Occidental preferred stock, which carries an 8% annual dividend, and has warrants to purchase $5 billion worth of Occidental common shares for $59.62 per share.These purchases clearly show that Warren Buffett isn't only a great value investor - he's also a good market timer, as his recent purchases coincided with the OXY stock reaching its supply zone on the price chart:TrendSpider Software, author's notesAs in my last article on OXY from March 2023, I still see quite favorable long-term prospects for the company, and the way Warren Buffett is behaving toward the stock only indirectly confirms my conclusions. In fact, there are some fundamental reasons for retail investors to follow Mr. Buffett. Let's look at them together.What Are The Reasons To Follow Buffett's Buys?It's been a long time since last March and the company managed to report for Q1 FY2023 [May 9, 2023] - let's first take a quick look at the operational and financial results.OXY's first-quarter results showed adjusted EPS and cash flow from operations [CFO] of $1.09 billion and $3.15 billion, respectively. This missed the consensus forecast of $1.24 per share and $3.12 billion in CFO, according to FactSet data [proprietary source]. The underperformance was primarily attributed to the midstream business and non-cash adjustments related to taxes and other factors. Capital expenditures in the first quarter were $1.46 billion, slightly deviating from the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. Free cash flow for the quarter was $1.7 billion. Of note, OXY repurchased $752 million of common stock and redeemed $647 million of preferred stock.Lower earnings were primarily due to decreased prices for crude oil (-19% YoY), natural gas liquids (-38%), and natural gas (-28%). However, higher production and reduced interest expense partially offset this decline. Revenue also decreased by 14% compared to the previous year, reaching $7.225 billion, falling short of the consensus forecast of $7.617 billion.In the Oil and Gas division, the pretax net profit for Q1 2023 was $1.640 billion, down from $2.898 billion in the previous year. This decline was mainly a result of lower realized prices for commodities. Average daily production increased by nearly 13% to 1,220 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboe/d), driven by higher international production and strength in the Permian, Rocky Mountain, and Gulf of Mexico regions.For the Chemicals division [OxyChem], pretax earnings in the first quarter dropped by 30% compared to the prior year, amounting to $472 million. This decline was attributed to lower polyvinyl prices, reduced volume in most product lines, and narrower margins due to weaker chemical pricing. On a positive note, the division benefited from lower raw material costs.The Midstream and Marketing segment reported a pretax profit of $2 million in Q1 2023, in contrast to a pretax loss of $50 million in the same quarter of the previous year. This shift to profitability was primarily driven by the favorable timing impact of crude oil sales and improved gas margins.Management has provided guidance numbers for the second quarter and full year 2023 production and financials - I feel it necessary to share with you not only the bare numbers but also how Goldman Sachs analysts evaluate the management's forecasts in its recently published [May 10, 2023] note on OXY's Q1 results:Q2 FY2023Full-year 2023Total production is expected to range from 1,156 to 1,196 MBOE/d, with Goldman Sachs estimating it at 1,183 MBOE/d and the consensus forecast at 1,186 MBOE/d.Oil production is projected to be between 595 and 616 Mb/d, with Goldman Sachs estimating 632 Mb/d and the consensus at 641 Mb/d.Pre-tax chemical income is anticipated to be approximately $415 million [$391 million according to Goldman Sachs];Pre-tax midstream and marketing income is anticipated to be -$50 million in the midrange [-$79 million according to Goldman Sachs]Total production guidance is set at 1,170 to 1,220 MBOE/d, compared to the previous range of 1,150 to 1,210 MBOE/d. Goldman Sachs estimates it at 1,182 MBOE/d, while the consensus forecast is 1,188 MBOE/d.Oil production is projected to be between 618 and 644 Mb/d, compared to the previous range of 610 to 641 Mb/d. Goldman Sachs estimates it at 628 Mb/d, and the consensus is 642 Mb/d.The capital expenditure guidance remains unchanged at $5.4-$6.2 billion.Pre-tax chemical income is expected to be in the range of $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion, with Goldman Sachs estimating it at $1.5 billion.Pre-tax income for the midstream and marketing segment remains unchanged at -$100 million to +$100 million [Goldman anticipates -$37 million].Source: Author's work, based on OXY's data and Goldman Sachs [proprietary source]As you can see, Goldman Sachs analysts see a much bleaker future for OXY than the management articulates to the market. You'd think that the bank would be bearish. But we see an opposite picture:GS [May 10, 2023], proprietary sourceEven with an EBITDA decline of ~30% in FY2023 [YoY], Goldman sets a 12-month price target of $77 per share, which gives OXY an upside potential of ~32.2% over the next 6 months or so as of the last close. That's a huge upside, in my opinion.Despite some weaknesses during Q1, OXY demonstrated some improvements in its financial position, as far as I see it. Its total debt/capitalization ratio decreased from 52.2% to 41.8% compared to the previous year; the total debt decreased from $27.202 billion to $20.805 billion, primarily resulting from the Anadarko acquisition. Short-term borrowings stood at $565.0 million at the end of the quarter.Data by YChartsBefore Q1, OXY was a confident leader in terms of FCF returns, which I mentioned in the last article. Now we see that FCF per share has dropped a bit, but still has an edge over the other peers:Data by YChartsAt the same time, OXY still far outperforms its peers based on the TTM metric - the FCF yield displayed by YCharts. As I suggested earlier, this may have been why Warren Buffett chose OXY when he was looking for a sufficiently liquid company with high-quality management to invest his money in.Data by YChartsOXY concentrates its development efforts on the high-yield core areas of the Permian Basin and parts of the Middle East. As I've written in previous articles, these areas are the most promising and profitable when it comes to increasing production with high-profit margins.We also know that Occidental plans to limit its capital spending on low-carbon initiatives to $600 million this year. Hollub highlighted the current lack of external funding for additional direct air capture [DAC] plants beyond the one being built in Texas. Hollub stated that Occidental's production would recover throughout the year following maintenance-related stoppages concentrated in Q1. The company intends to continue repurchasing preferred stock but requires an oil price of $75 per barrel to do so.And the relative stability of the oil price seems to be more obvious at the moment than it was about a month ago. One of the reasons for this was the news that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve [SPR] could be replenished as early as June, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said on May 11, 2023. Earlier the SPR repurchases were expected to begin in Q4 FY2023 after completing maintenance on storage sites in Texas and Louisiana. In the meantime, the administration has been depleting the SPR over the past six weeks, ZeroHedge reports:ZeroHedge [May 12, 2023], a proprietary sourceEven without the upcoming SPR replenishment, oil prices continue to hold above $70/b - and this is despite recession expectations [which I support] being near historic highs.BofA [May 16, 2023], a proprietary sourceWhat happens if these expectations fall due to an actual recession or a soft landing? These are slightly different scenarios, but given the relative strength of the U.S. economy and the reluctance of the Saudi's to repeat the mistakes of Covid-19, I expect oil prices to recover quickly and continue to rise higher. It's not yet priced in by the positioning of the market's participants, as far as I see:BofA [May 16, 2023], a proprietary sourceAs we know, long-term investors like Buffett use temporary difficulties to outperform the market over the long term, not the short term. And the systematic underinvestment in the industry that continues to this day suggests that quality oil companies like OXY will thrive in the long run and reward their shareholders either through buybacks or dividends. The most important thing is strong FCF, and that still puts OXY in the best position among other O&G large-caps.The VerdictOf course, OXY's performance is heavily influenced by fluctuations in oil prices, which can result in significant volatility in stock prices, earnings, and cash flow, similar to its industry peers. This risk is unavoidable. It's also important to note that the company does not have substantial production hedges in place to mitigate this risk. Additionally, OXY investors are exposed to trends in global economic growth and interest rates, which can further impact the company's financial performance.Another risk is the company's debt. As an Argus Research analyst wrote in his May 17, 2023 note [proprietary source], while profits at most E&P companies are benefiting from increased demand, Argus believes that low debt is prudent in a rising interest rate environment and that Occidental's current 41% leverage ratio is too high. They also believe that the liquefied natural gas and offshore assets acquired from Anadarko aren't a good strategic fit for Occidental and that it'll take more time to achieve sustainable revenue and earnings growth from these assets.However, despite the significant risks outlined above, I believe that OXY will continue to enjoy the support of Warren Buffett's dip-buying activities going forward, as the company remains one of the best FCF generators of its size despite all the headwinds.Currently, OXY's stock is valued at 12 times FY2023 earnings, and the projected year-over-year EPS decline of nearly -48% seems too pessimistic to me. The company will likely continue to reduce the number of shares outstanding, and thus its EPS should remain more stable than price-in if oil prices remain at current levels or even fall a bit further. I don't expect a significant drop in the oil price though - the many recession expectations failed to drop the price, and now that those expectations are falling off their peak levels [with or without an actual recession], the downward trend seems limited.I reiterate my previous Buy rating on OXY stock and support Goldman's target of $77 per share.Thank you for reading! 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