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Some of the stocks that may grab investor focus today are:
Best Oil Stocks To Own Right Now: ONEOK Partners L.P.(OKS)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Garrett Cook]
Citi maintains Buy ratings on Targa Resources (NYSE: TRGP), ONEOK (NYSE: OKE) and Oneok Partners (NYSE: OKS) citing the companies stories around natural gas liquids (NGLs).
- [By Matthew DiLallo]
Energy infrastructure companies ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) and TransCanada (NYSE:TRP) are both emerging from the energy market downturn as stronger entities. Each made smart acquisitions, with TransCanada buying U.S. gas pipeline company Columbia Pipeline Group, while ONEOK is in the process of gobbling up its MLP,ONEOK Partners (NYSE:OKS). While these deals enhanced the growth profiles of both companies, TransCanada still stands out as the better buy for long-term income investors. Here’s why.
Best Oil Stocks To Own Right Now: Range Resources Corporation(RRC)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Paul Ausick]
Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC) dropped about 12.8% Wednesday to register a new 52-week low of $17.71 after closing at $20.30 on Tuesday. The 52-week high is $43.60. Volume was nearly 20 million, nearly 4 times the daily average. The natural gas producer missed estimates this morning and revised its growth projections downward. It was one of several energy companies that took some price target cuts from analysts.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Talk about a Barron’s bounce!Range Resources (RRC) has soared to the top of the S&P 500 today after Barron’s touted it in the pages of the magazine this weekend.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Range Resources gained 4.1% to $28.47, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% to2,375.31.
Barron’s Andrew Bary called Range Resources “an unappreciated energy play.” He explains why:
With major market indexes at record highs, natural-gas stocks are among the few depressed industry groups. Blame a warm winter and weakening gas prices.
Range Resources (ticker: RRC), a leading U.S. gas producer, looks undervalued. Its shares, at $27, are down 20% this year and are much below their 52-week high of $47, set last June. Range drilled the first well in the now-prolific Marcellus region of Pennsylvania more than a decade ago and amassed one of its largest land positions there610,000 acres. Its $4.2 billion purchase of Memorial Resource Development last September gave it access to what the company views as a prolific and underappreciated gas region: northern Louisiana
Range Resources’ market capitalization rose to $7 billion today from $6.8 billion on Friday. It reported net income of $521 million on sales of $1.4 billion in 2016.
- [By Matthew DiLallo]
According to a report by PLS, producers spent more than $23 billion locking up prime positions in the Permian Basin and another $7 billion on Mid-Continent acreage acquisitions. However, most of those were smaller deals, with the top transaction weighing in at $2.5 billion. Meanwhile, the Ark-La-Tex region near the Gulf Coast quietly tied for the second hottest M&A geography in the country, largely because of Range Resources (NYSE:RRC) acquisition of Memorial Resource Development. Range Resources paid $4.2 billion, which includes the assumption of debt, to gain a leading position in the Lower Cotton Valley region of Northern Louisiana. Not only is the play saturated with natural gas, but it’s also near the Gulf Coast, which is expected to see increased demand from new petrochemical and industrial complexes as well as LNG export facilities. In other words, Range Resources made a big bet on higher gas prices along the Gulf Coast.
- [By Chris Lange]
The S&P 500 stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Wednesday was Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC) which traded downabout 12% at $17.90. The stocks 52-week range is $17.68 to $43.60. Volume was about 25 million versus the daily average of 5.6 million shares.
Best Oil Stocks To Own Right Now: Talisman Energy Inc.(TLM)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Jayson Derrick]
On the other hand, the analysts are Underweight on Eni SpA (ADR) (NYSE: E), Repsol Oil & Gas Canada Inc (USA) (NYSE: TLM) and OMV AG given their asset bases, which offer an inferior risk to reward profile and limited differentiation in cost reductions.
Best Oil Stocks To Own Right Now: ConocoPhillips(COP)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Matthew DiLallo]
Meanwhile, ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) also abandoned its leases in the Chukchi Sea earlier this year. It paid $506 million for the 98 leases off Alaska’s northern coast in 2008 and had plans to drill its first exploratory well in 2014 but dropped those ambitions due to regulatory uncertainty. It has also since decided to exit deepwater exploration altogether after drilling a string of dry holes in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Angola, and the Canadian Atlantic, Instead, ConocoPhillips plans to focus its future development efforts on lower-risk onshore shale development.
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
ConocoPhillips (COP) was upgraded to hold at TheStreet Ratings. You can view the full analysis from the report here: COP.
Urban Outfitters (URBN) was downgraded to market perform at William Blair. Continued comp-store sales pressure is pushing out the timeline for a potential recovery, Blair said.
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
The contract awards are for the jack-ups West Elara and West Linus with ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS (COP) for work in the Greater Ekofisk area. The total additional backlog for the new contract awards is estimated to be about $1.4 billion, excluding performance bonuses.
Best Oil Stocks To Own Right Now: Halliburton Company(HAL)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Halliburton (HAL) has gotten beaten up this year…and even today’s earnings beat doesn’t capable of reversing its fortunes.
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Halliburton reported a profit of 4 cents, beating forecasts for 3 cents, on sales of $4.28 billion, narrowly edging expectations for $4.27 billion. Halliburton’s shares were trading higher before the market opened, but have declined have declined 0.3% to $46.90 at 1:56 p.m. today.
Evercore ISI’s James West sees a “margin explosion” coming for Halliburton during the second half of the year, while comparing the oil-services giant to LeBron:
With the start of the year already regarded as a transition period, we view the companys decision to sacrifice near term margins in order to accelerate long-term profitability and revenue growth as a defensive, yet calculated, and preemptive maneuver. Execution does remain a risk but naysayers seem to utter similar indecencies about LeBron James each year as the playoffs arrive. You dont doubt the king, and HAL is the clear market leader when it comes to NAM completions, in our view. The change in HALs reporting format makes syncing HALs commentary with its financials more difficult, but NAM comprised 68% and 61% of C&P revenues in 2014 and 2015, respectively (71% and 21% of EBIT). As such, the broader segment should be a good proxy for the region. Abatement of cost inflation, or at least a deceleration as we progress beyond the first step-change in activity of the cycle should serve as an additional tailwind for margins. The most likely benefit will come from proppant costs as sand mines resume processing finer mesh grades following the winter hiatus. Additional frac capacity is being reactivated at leading edge prices, evidenced by the fact that incremental margins improved throughout the first quarter, and the company continues to repair legacy contracts and commitments. The improvement of the broader po
- [By Lisa Levin]
Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) reported stronger-than-expected profit for its third quarter on Monday.
Halliburton posted quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.42 per share on revenue of $5.44 billion. However, analysts expected earnings of $0.37 per share on revenue of $5.35 billion.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
How strong is the earnings recovery? Of the 18 stocks that reported this morning, 13 beat forecasts, including Halliburton (HAL), and Hasbro (HAS). BofA Merrill Lynch’s Savita Subramanian and team note that for the first time since 2012, analysts are raising their earnings forecasts as earnings season progresses:
- [By Ben Levisohn]
When Weatherford International (WFT) announced that it had named Halliburton (HAL) CFO Mark McCollumits new CEO, its shares jumped as some observers contended itincreased the odds of an acquisition by the oil-services giant. It looks like they picked the wrong oil-services giant, however, as Weatherford and Schlumberger (SLB) announced a joint venture late Friday, one that has sent Weatherford’s shares soaring and earned it an upgrade from Wells Fargo analystsJudson Bailey andColeman Sullivan. They explain why:
- [By Jayson Derrick]
Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) is a top energy pick for four reasons: 1) the company’s significant leverage to the U.S. onshore market, 2) potential for incremental margin growth, 3) expectations for positive earnings revision and 4) strong balance sheet and a “well respected” management team.
