ExxonMobil's Acquisition Targets

Jeremy Glaser: I'm Jeremy Glaser with Morningstar.com. After ExxonMobil's
historic deal to buy XTO, the question is what's next for
ExxonMobil shareholders and next in the oil and gas space. Here
to discuss with me is Associate Director of Research Eric
Chenoweth and Senior Equity Analyst Justin Perucki. Gentlemen,
thanks for joining me.

Eric Chenoweth: Thanks for having us.

Jeremy Glaser: So what are the implications for ExxonMobil shareholders?
.
Eric Chenoweth: Well it is a like you mentioned, it's an historic deal. It marks a big
strategy shift on Exxon's part to move full force into on-shore
natural gas in the United States and to eventually take that and use
that model overseas as well in European shale’s. The deal itself is a
big deal. It's a $41 billion deal. But for Exxon it really means about
a 10% to 15% increase in their production and reserves. Really, the
significance to us is that it's a platform for them. This really kicks
off this new strategy to attack on-shore gas. It creates the largest
US gas producer and it creates a platform.

XTO knows how to acquire and exploit and produce gas properties
in the US, and now they have a big bankroll behind them in Exxon
Mobile to go after this. So it's a big deal and it creates a new giant.

Justin Perucki: Eric, do you think it's safe to say that ExxonMobil is still going to
be out there acquiring businesses? And what about the other
majors?

Eric Chenoweth: We think Exxon still is the most likely to make additional
acquisitions. They're very methodical, so it may not be a big rush
to do deals. They'll probably think it through. They showed that
kind of discipline with the XTO deal. And like we said, they are
head and shoulders the most likely to do more deals. We do think
Chevron has some firepower to do a big deal and maybe BP will
be kind of a distant third.

Justin Perucki: So what about the targets, the people there are going to acquire?
From my list, I think Anadarko seems like a likely candidate. They
have a large off-shore presence, very lucrative assets in West
Africa, and then also a big large natural gas presence on-shore in
the US. Some others that come to mind are Chesapeake, although
it might be a little bit more difficult given the size of their balance
sheet and the deals that they've already put in place with Statoil
and BP.

Devon and EnCana also come to mind, but they're in the process of
restructuring, so once those kinds of restructurings get finished, I
think they'll have the kind of portfolio that Chevron or even Exxon
Mobil might want to gobble up. Is there any maybe smaller targets
out there that might be of interest?

Eric Chenoweth: There are a few that we look at. Like you mentioned, I don't think
there's a perfect analog to XTO in the large kind of big broad
portfolio of properties across the US. I think that the smaller ones
look interesting to us. Number one would be Range Resources.
They have the largest position in the Marcellus of any of the
smaller E&Ps that we cover, mid-size E&Ps that we cover. They
would be very attractive, even for an Exxon/XTO combination.
That's one of the gaps you could say is in XTO's portfolio, is in
Appalachia. So Range would be a great addition to that mix.

Petrohawk is another one that comes to mind and would probably
be the number two that we think about great emerging position in
the Hainsville and the Eagleford, a little bit of Fayetteville. So a
great target there for these guys.

Southwestern is a dominant Fayetteville player. It would be a great
opportunity for someone to acquire. And then Ultra has a great
Rockies position in the Pinedale and also has an emerging
Marcellus position.

All of these would be smaller deals, more bolt-on deals for major,
but also very large deals in and of themselves and very focused in
on-shore gas and unconventional gas development.

Jeremy Glaser: Given to that Exxon was being extremely patient. What do you
think about the price that they paid for this deal?

Eric Chenoweth: We thought it was a pretty fair price. Our fair value estimate was
$53.00, and the deal was announced just a hair under $52.00. So I
think their patience really paid off. This has been a company, XTO
has always had a premium valuation, and rightfully so in our
opinion. A top-notch operator, a top-notch balance sheet and
assets. So we think their patience paid off. They were able to
acquire a premium set of assets, a premium team, at a pretty fair
price. And I think for Exxon shareholders and for XTO
shareholders, the upside is in Exxon's share price now.

And we do think Exxon is undervalued, so if I was an XTO
shareholder, you might say, well based on where the stock's
trading now, it looks fair, but there's upside in Exxon shares,
especially if this strategy works and takes off. That's where the
upside would be.

Jeremy Glaser: So if you're an Exxon shareholder now, or potentially going to
become an Exxon shareholder next year, you would say to hold on
now. What about people with new money is now the time to buy
into Exxon?

Eric Chenoweth: We think it's very close. It's not a five-star stock right this instant,
it's very close, though. So it's one we pay a lot of attention to.

Jeremy Glaser: Thanks so much for talking with me today.

Eric Chenoweth: Thanks.

Jeremy Glaser: For Morningstar.com, I'm Jeremy Glaser.