Investors have to be thrilled that the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 are all trading right at all-time highs. Even with some of the market’s favorite stocks seeing sharp corrections on Friday, there are always other areas that haven’t participated as much in the rally that has continued this year.
The bull market is well over eight years old, and the market indexes have now risen exponentially since the lows in 2009. Some investors have started feeling confused or puzzled about the relentless stock market strength, particularly after investors have managed to find myriad reasons to keep buying stocks after each and every sell-off.
With valuations being high and as many investors are trained to be cautious in the summer, some investors are looking for new ideas and safety as they still seek positive returns. Is it possible that the energy sector, particularly oil and gas, could be hiding some serious value?
It is important to realize that crude oil’s strength and recovery has backed off in 2017. OPEC’s production cuts being extended may not really be met, or maybe the market just wanted more. And rig counts keep rising to add more supply ahead. West Texas Intermediate crude closed at $45.83 on Friday, and it had struggled to hold above $50 up until recently. The firm Tudor Pickering recently warned that North American shale producers really need oil to be $55 per barrel to be profitable in general, even if $45 is still profitable in some of the shale plays.
24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week to find new investing and trading ideas for its readers. This ends up being hundreds of analyst calls each week. Some of these analyst reports covering stocks to buy during the week of June 5 to June 9 were in key oil and gas companies.
Investors should never just blindly trust analyst calls. They can be wrong or poorly timed, but it is worth noting that many key oil stocks are closer to the lows of 2016 and are trading like they were back when oil was challenging $30 per barrel again. That could imply a disconnect, even if perhaps the prices of oil stocks recovered more than they should have during the oil price recovery.
Consensus analyst price target data are the mean of the Thomson Reuters sell-side research service. Additional color and commentary has been added on most of the daily analyst calls. Here are some of the top calls in energy stocks from this past week.
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (NYSE: COG) was raised to Outperform from Neutral on June 6 at Macquarie. The stock closed out the week with a 2.5% gain on Friday to $22.88, and that compares with a closing price of $21.50 a day before Macquarie raised its rating. Cabot has a 52-week trading range of $20.02 to $26.74 and a consensus analyst target price of $29.28.
On June 5, Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was raised to Buy from Hold at HSBC. Chevron had closed down 1.1% at $103.11 ahead of that call, and it has a 52-week range of $97.53 to $119.00. Shares closed up 2.3% at $106.40 on Friday. The Dow component has a consensus target price of $123.35.
Moody’s doesn’t issue buy and sell ratings for equity investors, but the credit rating agency gave several reasons why Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) is deserving of an even stronger triple-A rating now. Exxon shares closed up 1.8% at $82.13 on Friday, in a 52-week range of $79.26 to $95.55 and with a consensus target price of $87.04. This week the firm Hilliard Lyons initiated Exxon Mobil with a long-term Buy rating but with a mere $90 target price for 24 months.
Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) was reiterated as Outperform with a $60 target price this week at Credit Suisse. The prior closing price was $45.30 and shares ended Friday at $44.85. The firm sees risk/reward favoring Halliburton from an absolute and relative basis versus peers. Halliburton has a 52-week range of $40.12 to $58.78 and a consensus target price of $62.06.
If Cowen is right in its aggressive call, Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. (NYSE: HLX), which provides specialty services (well intervention, robotics, and production facilities) to the offshore energy industry, may have some incredible upside. The company is not even worth $800 million, so it may be more speculative than other larger companies in the energy space. Cowen raised its rating to Outperform from Market Perform on June 5, and the firm has a $10 price target. That represented more than 100% upside from a $4.90 prior closing price. Helix Energy has a 52-week range of $4.82 to $11.87, and its shares closed the week at $5.40.
UBS raised Oasis Petroleum Inc. (NYSE: OAS) to Buy from Neutral with a $13 price target on June 9. This was versus a $9.06 prior closing price, but shares responded with a 6.5% gain to $9.35 on Friday. The market cap is smaller than many oil stocks at $2.2 billion, and the stock has a 52-week range of $6.56 to $17.08. The consensus price target on Oasis Petroleum was last seen as still above $16.
RPC Inc. (NYSE: RES), which offers a range of oilfield services and equipment for oil and gas companies, was reiterated as Buy with a $26 target price (versus a $19.37 prior close) at Jefferies. That compares with a $19.37 prior close, but RPC shares closed up 5% at $20.34 on Friday. Jefferies also added RPC to its Franchise Picks list ahead of upcoming higher earnings revisions it expects this year. The 52-week range is $13.50 to $23.36, and the consensus target price is $23.82.
The quiet period for Solaris Oilfield Infrastructure Inc. (NYSE: SOI) has come to an end, and most analysts had Buy or Outperform ratings when they issued new post-IPO coverage on June 6. Credit Suisse, Wells Fargo, Evercore ISI and Piper Jaffray started the stock with Outperform ratings. Wunderlich and Goldman Sachs issued new Buy ratings. After the upside targets were set in a range of $15 to $20, the shares hardly budged on the news. They were up four cents at $11.60 after the report. Solaris closed Friday down 0.7% at $9.97.
Investors should take note that the key exchange traded funds tracking big energy companies hit 52-week lows this week. Again, that is with oil at $45 rather than in the $30s the last time that many of these oil and gas stocks hit lows.
The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (NYSE: XOP) closed up 3.75% at $32.61 on Friday. Its 52-week range is $31.37 to $44.97.
The VanEck Vectors Oil Services ETF (NYSE: OIH) closed up 3.06% at $25.92 on Friday. Its 52-week range is $25.00 to $36.35.
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