Fort Worth, Texas based natural gas producer XTO announced a $4.19 billion acquisition of privately-held Hunt Petroleum, which holds over 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Revenues were already on track to increase from $6 billion to $7.34bn for 2008, and estimates for 2009 were $8.8bn before this deal.
With operating margins at 51% and earnings growth for 2008 already forecast to increase over 21% the stock should have appeal for energy fund managers looking for solid growth prospects.