Due to sustainability aspects, some shares are no longer up-to-date for investors in their own securities accounts.

That includes oil stocks.

However, some of these companies should definitely be given a “second chance”.

One of these could be Shell.

Since the beginning of the year, Royal Dutch Shell plc has only been called Shell plc.

This made the previously binational oil and gas company based in the Netherlands under British law a lot more British – to the annoyance of the Dutch government.

Because for the new Shell, the short name and the simpler company and share structure as well as the company headquarters in Great Britain have many advantages.

Apart from the restructuring, Shell has also recently shown itself to be very consistent, for example by announcing the withdrawal from the Russian business at the beginning of March.

This is also reflected in the balance sheet.

According to Shell, write-downs of up to $5 billion will be required in the first quarter, but this will not affect profits.

The reason for this is the rising energy prices, from which Shell is benefiting.

Shell on analyst favorites list

Shell is one of the stocks an investor Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), 30 Global Ideas for 2022, according to analysts at RBC Capital, the investment bank.

The stock is rated "outperform" and is a "cash flow machine" - despite the fact that the group has a lot on the agenda at the moment.

Most recently, the dual share structure and especially the Dutch part caused a lot of trouble for the company.

These included a 15 percent withholding tax on dividends in the Netherlands, court battles over Shell's pace of decarbonization, Dutch pension fund ABP's move away from oil and gas investments, and the work of activist investor Third Point.

With the help of the simpler structure, Shell wants to act faster and more flexibly with capital and portfolio measures.

Share buybacks, for example, can be better managed.

The simplification is also expected to increase competitiveness and accelerate both payouts to shareholders and the implementation of the strategy to become a net-zero emissions company.

Shell wants to achieve this goal by 2050 with the help of the "Powering Progress" program.

Away from the classic oil company

Part of this process are sales of oil and gas activities.

Instead, the focus is on new “eco” projects.

The cooperation with Remondis Recycling GmbH, which belongs to the Rethmann Group, shows what such projects can look like.

The aim of the cooperation is to meet the growing demand for more sustainable energy and chemical products.

The focus is on the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland in the south of Cologne.

Instead of crude oil, for example, hydrogen, circular waste and biomass are to be used more in the future in order to produce alternative energy and chemical products.

Based on the example of the Shell location in the Rhineland, the other refineries of the group are also to be transformed into energy and chemical parks.

In this way, Shell's global production of fossil fuels is expected to fall by 55 percent by 2030.

Shell's future looks bright.

However, the question arises to what extent the assessment of the RBC Capital analysts will hold up in the years to come.

Because from a long-term perspective, the price development was not convincing.

Since the group dissolved its old group structure in 2005 and created a uniform new company with "Royal Dutch Shell plc", the share has only moved sideways to this day, with large price fluctuations.

Anyone who bought the share when it was relisted on the stock exchange in 2005 (opening price: EUR 26.70) is currently even recording a small price loss.

Solid dividend yield

The price development looks different over the past two years.

Between January and March 2020, the price collapsed by more than 60 percent to around 10 euros, but after several months of volatile sideways movement, a steep upward movement started at the end of 2020.

In the course of the following year and a half, the price rose by more than 150 percent at times.

Due to the currently promising chart technology, the title could continue to be interesting for short-term investors - also with a view to the currently high dividend yield of 3.2 percent.

The comparatively moderate valuation also speaks in favor of the share.

The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is currently 9, while peers like ExxonMobil (P/E: 11), BP (P/E: 12), and Chevron (P/E: 14) are currently trading significantly more expensively.