Buying Chevron? Consider an Exit Strategy

Shareholders will receive more details when the company reports earnings on Feb. 1, but the Chevron report came as a relief since its last mid-quarter earnings were disappointing. Friday morning Tudor Pickering raised its fourth quarter earnings estimate on CVX by 3 cents to $3.11, which is above the analysts' consensus estimate of $3.04. The firm reiterated its "Hold" rating however.

Even at Friday's closing price of $111.73, the $3.60 current dividend offers a yield-to-price of 3.22%, not too shabby in light of the 10-year Treasury bond yield of 1.88%. The one-year chart below helps illustrate how CVX shares tend to follow a price range which correlates to its price-to-cash-flow (TTM) ratio. CVX Price to Cash Flow TTM data by YCharts

At the time of publication the author had a position in CVX.

This article was written by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.