“Warren Buffett gets permission to buy up to half of Occidental...

“Warren Buffett gets permission to buy up to half of Occidental Petroleum -well the smart heads see where this is heading”

Too right - seriously seasoned smart money like Buffetts doubling down on oil and gas can’t be a bad thing for WDS.

It will have investors (particularly US investors) casting their eye more broadly around the sector so the timing might be sweet for WDS at month end when it reports. ie this might be when the US listed stock really gets attention if WDS announces big profits, massive free cashflow and a dividend that puts every other US listed oil and gas stock in the shade.

WDS’s official ‘trailing yield’ is still distorted by the puny anomaly ( $0.41 ) half year dividend from this time last year. At the end of the month this will be replaced in calculations with at least a repeat of the $1.46 dividend from Feb giving a yield of around 9%.....and this is conservative.....many think the upcoming dividend will be $2 (giving a yield north of 10%)

On Friday night on CNBC a Bank of America energy analyst was saying the following :

Despite the ongoing drag on demand via China the following factors will see the price of Brent hold at worst but more likely head back towards $100 :

Northern winter coming - Europe energy situation a mess ....gas subbing into oil.

Demonstrated signs of increasing jet fuel demand

Recent dip in oil prices has actually stimulated overall demand

This analyst also talked about oil and gas stocks being a known inflation hedge - a prime reason oil and gas stocks outperformed earlier in the year. With the broader market rally looking like it may have run out of puff this might divert funds again to WDS.

So given all of the above WDS surely looks like a good bet to outperform the market in the short term. It has to be a buy or hold at worst I think. I’m much less confident about the other stocks in my portfolio that have had a 10%-15% run since early June.