It is bad news today for Canadian oil stock Imperial Oil (TSE:IMO) as it is set to lose one of its senior staff to Exxon Mobil (XOM). The loss did little to faze investors, as shares were up modestly in Friday morning’s trading.
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Sherri Evers, senior vice president of sustainability, commercial development and product solutions, will be departing Imperial Oil. As part of the company, she handled several strategic projects, including the new Low Carbon Solutions business as well as the Strathcona renewable diesel project, according to word from Brad Corson, Imperial’s CEO. The Strathcona project represents around 20,000 barrels per day of renewable diesel, and represented a C$720 million investment back in 2023.
Evers will be heading to Exxon Mobil, where she will take over as North America Lubes general manager, noted a Reuters report.
Considering the Future
So should investors be abandoning Imperial Oil like Sherri Evers did? A new report notes that Imperial Oil has risen impressively over the last 10 years. In fact, shares are up 94% in that period. It gets even better if you adjust for dividend reinvestments; then it is actually closer to 142%. That number, reports note, puts it ahead of the TSX index, and it gets even better if you look at the 20 year index.
Those kinds of gains, along with a reliable dividend, do suggest a potential win going forward. Though they also suggest the possibility that the gains are played out already, the fact is that, despite the growth of electric cars, oil will be on the table for a long time to come. However, the report suggested that analysts look for a drop of 3% over the next 12 months, so a bit of a buying opportunity may come later.
Is Imperial Oil Stock a Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on TSE:IMO stock based on six Holds and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After an 25.35% rally in its share price over the past year, the average TSE:IMO price target of C$102.20 per share implies 6.36% upside potential.
