Best Oil Stocks To Watch Right Now


I cant help but to applaud the management team at Mid-Con Energy Partners (MCEP). The firm recently announced financial results for the fourth quarter of its 2017 fiscal year, as well as expectations for what 2018 should look like. On the whole, the company has done well to recover from the oil price downturn and, while some pieces of news are less than ideal, the data is better for Mid-Con now than it has been in a while.

Debt keeps declining, and reserves are rising

As I reported in a prior article, the debt picture for Mid-Con has improved as of late. Due to preferred stock offerings and some asset sales, debt has now dropped to $90.2 million, down from $99 million at the end of last year and down from $122 million at the end of its 2016 fiscal year. Not only that, but the E&P firms credit facility capacity of $125 million (implying liquidity today of $35.8 million) offers some wiggle room in the event that the oil markets happen to tank again.


While this data isnt new, one piece of news that is relates to Mid-Cons reserves. As you can see in the image below, total proved reserves as of the end of 2017 came out to 19.557 million boe (barrels of oil equivalent). Of this, an impressive 95% is oil, which matches well the roughly 93% of Mid-Cons production that is in the form of oil. At the end of 2016, the companys proved reserves totaled 19.231 million boe, which implies a modest increase of 1.7%, but this doesnt account for some differences in the timing of events. In December of last year, management divested of assets in Oklahoma that represented 2.70 million boe and early this year they closed the purchase of assets in the Powder River Basin with proved reserves of 2.974 million boe. Keeping all else the same just from these two transactions, reserves should be 22.531 million boe, or 17.2% above 2016s.

Best Oil Stocks To Watch Right Now: Magellan Midstream Partners L.P.(MMP)


Advisors’ Opinion:

  • [By ]

    That means pipelines are equally busy carrying all that raw crude into these refineries and then carrying out gasoline, diesel and other finished products. So you’d think these would be boon times for Magellan Midstream Partners (NYSE: MMP), which owns 10,000 miles of pipeline that connect with 50% of the nation’s refinery capacity.

  • [By Reuben Gregg Brewer]

    For an example of just how important this is, take a look at the graph below. Midstream companies ONEOK Inc. (NYSE:OKE), Magellan Midstream Partners LP(NYSE:MMP), and Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) have each increased their disbursements for more than a decade. However, there is a difference in the growth rates over time. Enterprise’s 10-year annualized distribution increase was 5.7%, Magellan’s was 10.9%, and ONEOK’s dividend rose at an annualized 16.1% clip. Just a few percentage points here makes a huge difference in the growth of the disbursement over time, as the chart below clearly shows.

  • [By Matthew DiLallo]

    Meanwhile, the return multiples for many of the projects under development by Magellan Midstream Partners (NYSE:MMP) are in the six- to eight-times EBITDA range. Because of that, the $1.7 billion of expansion projects Magellan currently has underway only will generate about $250 million in incidental EBITDA. That’s partially why Magellan Midstream expects to grow its payout at a slower pace of 8% this year and a 5% to 8% annual rate in 2019 and 2020, even though it plans on paying out the same percentage of its cash flow as ONEOK.

  • [By ]

    Cramer and the AAP team are looking for opportunities to trim stocks into strength based out of discipline. That means trimming Magellan Midstream Partners (MMP) . Find out what they’re telling their investment club members and get in on the conversation with a free trial subscription to Action Alerts PLUS.

  • [By Matthew DiLallo]

    Over the past five years, Magellan Midstream Partners (NYSE:MMP) has generated a total return of nearly 70%. That’s quite impressive considering that most master limited partnerships (MLPs) have lost value over that timeframe. One of the reasons the company has delivered such strong total returns is that it has steadily increased its payout even as rivals have either stopped raising their distribution, or cut it. Magellan has avoided this fate by investing within its means instead of stretching to grow at a faster pace.

Best Oil Stocks To Watch Right Now: Encana Corporation(ECA)


Advisors’ Opinion:

  • [By Max Byerly]

    Here are some of the news stories that may have effected Accern Sentiment’s rankings:

    Get Encana alerts:

    Encana Corp (ECA) Rising Higher 7.95% Over the Past Four Weeks (fisherbusinessnews.com) Encana Corporation (ECA) Most Active Stock Price trades 19.10% off from 200- SMA (nasdaqchronicle.com) Mid-Day Movers : Encana Corporation (NYSE:ECA), CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX), MGIC Investment Corporation … (journalfinance.net) Featured Stock: Encana Corporation (ECA) (stockquote.review) Active Stock Evaluation Encana Corporation (NYSE: ECA) (financerater.com)


    ECA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Encana from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $15.00 to $18.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Encana from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $10.84 to $16.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 7th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Encana from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Scotiabank raised shares of Encana from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $13.00 to $14.00 in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Goldman Sachs cut their price target on shares of Encana from $17.25 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.28.

  • [By Shane Hupp]

    Electra (CURRENCY:ECA) traded down 5.1% against the U.S. dollar during the 24-hour period ending at 15:00 PM E.T. on June 12th. Over the last seven days, Electra has traded down 25.7% against the U.S. dollar. Electra has a market cap of $34.53 million and approximately $134,011.00 worth of Electra was traded on exchanges in the last 24 hours. One Electra coin can currently be bought for $0.0013 or 0.00000020 BTC on exchanges including CryptoBridge, Fatbtc, CoinFalcon and Coinhouse.

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    These are some of the media stories that may have effected Accern’s scoring:


    Get Encana alerts:

    Should You Listen to This Stock? Encana Corporation (ECA) moves 51.44% away from One Year Low (nasdaqchronicle.com) Hot Mover of the Day Encana Corporation (NYSE:ECA) (thestockgem.com) Enrapturing Stocks: Encana Corporation, (NYSE: ECA), AmTrust Financial Services, Inc., (NASDAQ: AFSI) (globalexportlines.com) Analysts, Options Traders Love This Lesser-Known Energy Stock (schaeffersresearch.com) Encana Corp (ECA) Expected to Announce Quarterly Sales of $1.12 Billion (americanbankingnews.com)


    ECA traded up $0.27 on Thursday, hitting $12.47. 9,071,326 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,380,907. Encana has a 12 month low of $8.01 and a 12 month high of $14.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 2.00.

  • [By Keith Noonan, Travis Hoium, and Matthew DiLallo]

    We asked three Motley Fool investors to profile some of the best under-the-radar growth stocks on the market today. Read on to see why they selected Encana(NYSE:ECA), Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), and Baozun (NASDAQ:BZUN) as top growth stocks for in-the-know investors.

  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    Encana (NYSE:ECA) (TSE:ECA) had its target price raised by Morgan Stanley from $16.00 to $20.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning. Morgan Stanley currently has a buy rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.

Best Oil Stocks To Watch Right Now: ConocoPhillips(COP)

Advisors’ Opinion:

  • [By Matthew DiLallo]

    As things stand right now, analysts anticipate that at least some Iranian oil will come off the market as a result of the sanctions. That lost output would further tighten an oil market that suddenly has little margin for error thanks to red-hot demand and tame supply growth. That’s the recipe for higher oil prices and could make top-tier U.S. oil stocks Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC), Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN), and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) big winners in the coming years.

  • [By Reuben Gregg Brewer]

    Investors in search of dividend income will quickly notice that ExxonMobil Corporation’s (NYSE:XOM) 3.9% yield dwarfs the 1.8% dividend yield offered by ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP). That, however, isn’t the biggest reason dividend investors should prefer Exxon stock. Here’s what you need to know to understand why Exxon is a better dividend stock than ConocoPhillips.

  • [By Rich Smith]

    And yet, a funny thing has been happening in the market for oil stocks over this past week. All of a sudden, Wall Street analysts are talking up free cash flow as a reason to buy oil stocks. In fact, they can’t seem to shut up about it. Over just the past few days, I’ve seen free cash flow mentioned prominently in the analyses of Wall Street bankers on no fewer than three separate oil stocks: ExxonMobil, Chevron (NYSE:CVX), and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP).

  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) by 15.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,978 shares of the energy producer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,635 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in ConocoPhillips were worth $710,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

  • [By Garrett Baldwin]

    Eight Seconds… $1,260 Richer: Words can’t describe what you’ll see in this shocking footage – because you’ll witness, live on camera, one man become $4,238 richer with just three clicks of a mouse. And if you follow the simple instructions in this video, you’ll learn how to set yourself up for an instant $2,918 payday opportunity. You need to see this to believe it…


    Three Stocks to Watch Today: COP, HD, HSBC
    ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) has seized assets from the Venezuelan-owned firm PDVSA in the Caribbean. The company won a court case that will allow it to take over assets owned by the Venezuelan government. The court enabled the seizures as part of a broader plan to allow the firm to recoup roughly $2 billion following the 2007 nationalization of its assets in Venezuela by the huge Castro-led government.
    Monday will be a quiet day on the earnings front. Investors are looking to Tuesday’s calendar, when The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) reports earnings. Tomorrow, Wall Street analysts expect that Home Depot will report earnings per share of $2.07 on top of $25.2 billion in revenue. Investors will be hoping that the company reports strong profits thanks to an improving U.S. economy and the recent tax reform law.
    Expect a lot of chatter today about blockchain technology. That’s because ING Bank and HSBC Holdings Plc.(NYSE: HSBC) announced over the weekend that they engaged in their first trade ever using blockchain technology. The two engaged in a trade on behalf of Cargill to finance a shipment of soybeans from Argentina to Malaysia.
    Today, look for earnings reports from Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A), Itron Inc.(Nasdaq: ITRI), Vipshop Holdings Ltd.(Nasdaq: VIPS), Amyris Biotechnologies Inc. (Nasdaq: AMRS), Sky Solar Holdings Ltd.(Nasdaq: SKYS), Mazor Robotics Ltd.(Nasdaq: MZOR), China Lodging Group Ltd. (Nasdaq: HTHT), and Mimecast Ltd.(Nasdaq: MIME).


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Best Oil Stocks To Watch Right Now: Marathon Oil Corporation(MRO)

Advisors’ Opinion:

  • [By Matthew DiLallo]

    That prediction would have been unfathomable just a few months ago. While some oil bulls thought prices could surprise to the upside,the consensus outlook was that crude would be in the low to mid $50s this year thanks to surging U.S. oil production. Because of that, most producers based their budgets on oil averaging $50 a barrel, includingEOG Resources (NYSE:EOG), Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO), and Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC). In EOG Resources’ case, $50 oil would provide it with the cash flow to pay a dividend that was 10.4% higher than 2017’s level and drill 690 more wells, which would boost oil production about 18%. Meanwhile, Marathon Oil could produce enough cash at that price point to pay its dividend and fund the new wells needed to boost companywide output 12% compared to last year. Anadarko Petroleum, likewise, could fully fund its dividend and a growth-focused capital plan, which would see it boost oil output 14% this year.

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $22.09, but opened at $21.63. Marathon Oil shares last traded at $21.47, with a volume of 12430818 shares traded.

  • [By Chris Lange]

    The S&P 500 stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close was Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) which traded down over 5% at $19.99. The stocks 52-week range is $10.55 to $22.12. Volume was over 17 million compared to the daily average volume of 12.8 million.

  • [By Matthew DiLallo]

    The company’s Powder River Basinassets also generated strong drilling results, with several wells topping 1,000 BOE/D. Finally, while the company did drill four wells in the Bakken, it has deferred completing them until later this year. That program is one to keep an eye on given the results Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) delivered last quarter, when it completed record-setting wells in the Three Forks and Middle Bakken formations.

  • [By Matthew DiLallo]

    Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO), likewise, said it would stick with its $2.3 billion drilling budget, which is enough money to grow oil and gas production in the U.S. by 25% to 30% versus last year. Because of that capital discipline, Marathon is on pace to produce more than $500 million in excess cash this year, and that’s assuming crude averages $60 a barrel.

Best Oil Stocks To Watch Right Now: Apache Corporation(APA)


Advisors’ Opinion:

  • [By Matthew DiLallo]

    Oil prices have continued rebounding this year, with the U.S. benchmark price WTI up another 7% to around $65 per barrel. That improving oil price has helped drive up most oil stocks. I say most because Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN), Apache (NYSE:APA), and Newfield Exploration (NYSE:NFX) are flat to down so far this year because investors seem to have overlooked them entirely. Because of that, they trade for a dirt-cheap valuation versus their peers, making them intriguing options to consider.

  • [By John Bromels]

    And despite the stock market’s long bull run, there are still some dividend stocks out there that are both cheap and high-quality. So let’s go bargain shopping and see if we can find some! Three in the bargain bin that look promising are Kinder Morgan(NYSE:KMI),ExxonMobil(NYSE:XOM), and Apache Corporation(NYSE:APA). Here’s why they might be right for your portfolio.

  • [By Matthew DiLallo]

    Thanks to red-hot oil prices over the past year, oil stocks are up sharply. To give some sense of the magnitude of the rebound, the iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (NYSEMKT:IEO) — which holds more than 60 U.S.-focused oil and gas stocks — has rallied nearly 33% over the last 12 months. However, while that rising tide has lifted most boats, not all oil and gas stocks have enjoyed the oil market’s rebound. In fact, some stocks have managed to lose ground in the past year. Two of those laggards are Antero Resources (NYSE:AR) and Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA), which have declined 6% and 12%, respectively, in the last year.

Best Oil Stocks To Watch Right Now: Range Resources Corporation(RRC)


Advisors’ Opinion:

  • [By Paul Ausick]

    Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC) fell about 4.4% Tuesday to post a new 52-week low of $14.43 after closing at $15.09 on Monday. The 52-week high is $34.93. Volume of about 15 million was nearly double the daily average of around 7.7 million shares traded. The company had no specific news.

  • [By Paul Ausick]

    Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC) fell about 3.6% Monday to post a new 52-week low of $14.77 after closing at $15.30 on Friday. The 52-week high is $35.64. Volume of about 9.4 million was about 20% higher than the daily average of around 7.7 million shares traded. The company had no specific news.

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Range Resources Corp. (NYSE:RRC) – Equities research analysts at Seaport Global Securities raised their Q4 2018 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Range Resources in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, May 23rd. Seaport Global Securities analyst M. Kelly now anticipates that the oil and gas exploration company will post earnings per share of $0.12 for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $0.11. Seaport Global Securities has a “Neutral” rating on the stock. Seaport Global Securities also issued estimates for Range Resources’ Q1 2019 earnings at $0.36 EPS, Q3 2019 earnings at $0.18 EPS, Q4 2019 earnings at $0.26 EPS and FY2019 earnings at $0.98 EPS.

  • [By Tyler Crowe, Matthew DiLallo, and Reuben Gregg Brewer]

    So we asked three of our investing contributors to each highlight a company they think has a compelling investment case right now in the oil and gas industry. Here’s why they selected Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN), Range Resources (NYSE:RRC), and ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM).

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