Mad Money Follow-Up

Return to Article

'Mad Money' Spotlight: Linn Energy

David Moss

Linn Energy(LINE), the Houston-based natural gas producer, got a little bounce today after Jim Cramer's buy rating last night. The stock has been on a steady uptick throughout the day, holding on to its gains and changing hands at $17.56 in afternoon trading. That's up 84 cents and 5% on the day.

Cramer spoke with Linn Energy CEO Michael Linn on "Mad Money" to get the full skinny on the company and the natural gas industry. The conversation with Linn swirled from politics (Linn says President Obama will have to endorse natural gas eventually) to production (Linn is bullish through 2012) to the company's dividend yield (Linn says they have no plans to cut dividends).

Last week, Linn Energy priced 5.5 million shares for public offering at $16.25 per share. The company also announced a private offering by its finance arm for $250 million in senior unsecured notes. The public offering should produce about $85 million in proceeds, though that may rise to $97.9 million because of an underwriters option for an additional 825,000 shares. Capital from both moves will be used to pay down debt on a revolving credit line, the company said.

Still, recent news of surging natural gas stockpiles and decreasing prices will hover around the sector for some time. The Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report, put out by the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration today, showed an increase of 103 billion cubic feet of natural gas since the previous week, putting stockpiles ahead of year-over-year comparisons and five-year averages.