Why Shares of Occidental Petroleum Were Up Over 2% Today

What happened

Shares of integrated oil company Occidental Petroleum (OXY 0.56%) were up 2.3% today as of 4 p.m. ET. Oil and energy companies in general were on the rise today as fossil fuel prices stayed strong, while stocks overall struggled for direction. The S&P 500 index was down 0.3% as of market close.

So what

There was no news today to cause Occidental's jump higher, but shares are rallying after pulling back from multiyear highs reached in early June. Occidental has doubled in price so far this year.  

Much of the excitement surrounding the company has to do with none other than Warren Buffett. Occidental secured funding from Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A 0.99%) (BRK.B 0.91%) for the acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum back in 2019, a deal that yielded Buffett and company favorable terms to purchase OXY stock. Since then, Berkshire has been adding to its position. In a filing last week, the investment conglomerate reported it now owns over 16% of Occidental.

This has led to some postulating that perhaps Occidental might be Buffett's next "elephant," all-out takeovers of companies that are added to Berkshire Hathaway's wholly owned subsidiaries. Given the sprawling assets of Berkshire Hathaway Energy (which includes utilities, natural gas, wind, and solar assets), an acquisition of Occidental could make sense -- although Buffett does have a long history of taking big stakes in stocks without ever making an offer for a full-blown takeover.

Now what

If you're a long-term investor (you plan to hold for at least a few years, but the more the better), don't buy Occidental simply because of speculation it could be an acquisition target. Focus instead on the cash-generating potential of this energy major. As oil prices have risen, the company's free cash flow has been surging -- giving it the ability to pay off its ample burden of debt (net long-term indebtedness of $25.9 billion as of end of March 2022).

As of this writing, Occidental Petroleum stock trades for just under six times trailing-12-month free cash flow. If energy prices hold strong and the company can continue to pay down its debt, it could be a fantastic long-term bargain -- with or without Berkshire making a splashy purchase.