Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) shares slipped on Tuesday, the day the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) oil and gas stock reported its half-year results.
Shares closed down 1% on Tuesday and slid another 1.21% yesterday, closing the day at $37.60 per share.
So, are Woodside shares now a buy or sell on the back of those price moves and the company's half-year results?
Are Woodside shares a buy or sell now?
Many of the key financial metrics were down year on year, largely due to lower realised oil and gas prices.
But Woodside shares still returned some impressive numbers for the six months ending 30 June (H1 2023).
That included an all-time high first-half net profit after tax (NPAT) of US$1.74 billion. That was up 6% from H1 2022.
The interim fully franked dividend of 80 US cents per share was down 27% year on year.
But (using Wednesday's exchange rate of 64.4 Aussie cents to the US dollar) that still works out to a dividend payout of AU$1.24 per share.
Adding in the final dividend of AU$2.154 per share, paid on 5 April, this equates to a fully franked yield (partly trailing, partly yet to be paid) of 9%.
Very tidy.
What can ASX 200 investors expect next?
Developments in the year ahead could help stir ASX 200 investor interest, offering some tailwinds for Woodside shares.
According to Woodside CEO Meg O'Neill:
The Sangomar oil development in Senegal is now 88% complete. We updated our target first oil dates to mid-2024 and our focus today is on completing the pre-commissioning work on the FPSO in Singapore.
Woodside also has an enviable liquidity position of US$7.5 billion, coupled with low gearing of 8.2%.
This leaves the company well-placed for capital investment through 2023 and 2024.
Indeed, O'Neill said Woodside has "ample capacity to meet our expenditure commitments".
She added:
This is important in the context of the investment program we have in the coming years as we complete Sangomar, progress Scarborough and Trion. Additionally, we have the added flexibility from the Scarborough selldown proceeds to be received in early 2024.
O'Neill also pointed out that Woodside is "actively marketing hydrogen offtake from our proposed H2OK liquid hydrogen project in Oklahoma". The company aims to make its final investment decision (FID) before the end of the year.
And domestically, Woodside plans to make its FID on the Woodside Solar project in the second half of 2023. The project is expected to supply some 50 MW of energy to Pluto LNG.
One of the wild cards that could help or hinder Woodside shares over the coming months is energy prices.
Brent crude was trading for US$84.15 per barrel on Wednesday.
That's down from just over US$105 per barrel in late August last year. But it's well up from the US$72.26 per barrel Brent was fetching on 27 June this year.
With no near-term end likely for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and OPEC+ sticking to its production cuts, many analysts are forecasting Brent crude to trade in the US$90 per barrel range into 2024.
And energy prices could get a boost over the coming year if we see some meaningful stimulus from the Chinese government to help boost China's sluggish economy.
That, in turn, would offer some further tailwinds to Woodside shares.
All told, it's a buy for me.
