Occidental Petroleum Has Achieved 90% of This Crucial Goal. Time to Buy the Oil Stock?

The oil industry is currently undergoing a massive consolidation wave. Sector leader ExxonMobil kicked things off by acquiring Pioneer Natural Resources in a more than $60 billion deal. Chevron followed it by agreeing to buy Hess for $60 billion. Several other oil companies also struck deals to acquire smaller rivals, including Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY), which bought CrownRock in a $12 billion deal. One of the critical differences between Occidental's deal and the acquisitions of its larger peers is that it primarily funded the purchase with debt. The company aimed to quickly repay a big chunk of those borrowings to prevent a repeat of its past mistakes and recently revealed that it achieved 90% of its near-term debt reduction goal. Here's a look at whether that makes the oil stock a buy.Occidental Petroleum initially sealed its deal to buy CrownRock last December. The transaction structure raised some concerns because it intended to finance most of the purchase price with debt. The oil company planned to issue $9.1 billion of new debt and assume CrownRock's $1.2 billion of existing debt to close the deal, which meant it was funding roughly 85% of the transaction value with debt. Continue readingWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool