5
Questar
Questar traces its roots to a natural gas discovery in Wyoming back in 1922. Today, the Salt Lake City outfit is one of the nation’s top-performing energy companies. The reason for its success? Focus. Under CEO Keith Rattie, the company has rapidly added new natural gas reserves at low cost by staying close to its Rocky Mountain beginnings. Questar combs over old fields at greater depths than ever by using the latest drilling technologies. Its biggest natural gas field, Pinedale, is still just 150 miles from that 1922 strike in southeastern Wyoming. The company reaps most of its revenue from exploration, but also owns gas pipelines and a natural gas utility serving more than 800,000 customers in Utah. Revenue from those other businesses provide a nice cushion to help offset the ebb and flow of natural gas prices—and keep Questar’s earnings and dividends flowing.
| Overall Grade | A |
|
| Market Data | STR | |
| Market Value (2/28/2007) |
$7.2 Billion |
|
| Profitability* | 22.2% | A |
| Sales Growth Rate** | 26.4% | A |
| 12-Month Sales | $2.8 Billion |
|
| 12-Month Net Income | $0.4 Billion |
|
| Total Return | Past 12 Months16.2% | Past 36 Months145.1% |
| Economic Sector | Utilities | |
| Industry | Gas Utilities | |
The overall sector letter grade reflects how the weighted average of the return on income, or return on equity, and sales growth grades compare with others in the same sector. For the overall grade as well as the ROE/ROI and sales growth grades, an "A" places a company in the top 7% of its sector and an "A-" in the top 14% of the sector. The actual ranking was done using the underlying numerical measures. Grades are for information only.
* For nonfinancial companies, three-year average pretax operating profit before interest and special items as a percentage of average invested capital. For financial companies, pretax profits as a percentage of average shareholder's equity.
*Three-year average annual sales growth based on the most recently reported 36 months, calculated using the least-squares method.
