The Financial Post reports in its Friday, Feb. 20, edition that Cenovus Energy posted an unusually sharp rise in fourth quarter profit as higher oil sands production -- including volumes from its newly acquired MEG Energy Corp. assets -- boosted results. The Post's Meghan Potkins writes that the Calgary-based producer saw net earnings of $934-million in the last three months of the year, up from $146-million in the same period last year. The company handily beat fourth quarter expectations, delivering adjusted funds flow roughly 20 per cent above forecasts based on stronger earnings from oil sands production and robust U.S. refining performance. Upstream production of 918,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day was also slightly ahead of expectations. "While it was an enormous (adjusted funds from operations) beat, we note multiple nonrecurring wins like cash tax recovery and the pipeline settlement in U.S. refining do explain a healthy portion of the beat," Raymond James wrote in a note Thursday.