CALGARY — Some of the country’s largest natural gas producers and drilling companies could soon be booted out of the main Toronto Stock Exchange index amid a share price rout, according to analysts.
“All you can really do is get out in front of the investors and tell your story,” said Kelt president and CEO David Wilson last week. “The problem is the market has just been so beat up through the summer that there just isn’t anybody listening right now to the oil and gas story.” “When investors can’t see any potential for production growth or enterprise growth, they’ll look for other sectors,” Neveu said, adding that Precision has been trying to demonstrate the value in its shares by buying back stock. Neveu said he’s been buying shares, too.
“I’m never worried about the index,” Geddes said, adding that he’s focused solely on running the company, not worrying about factors he can’t control. S&P did provide a list of criteria for inclusion from the composite index that shows any company’s whose value falls below 0.025 per cent of the overall index will be removed and will not be eligible to included in the list for 12 months.
“As liquidity in the market has really dried up and there’s been a buyers’ strike, I know that some hedge funds have been shorting these names, knowing that there are no buyers on the other side,” Nuttall said.