Energy Stocks

Resource and commodity stocks in general should make up only a limited portion of your portfolio—say less than 20% for a conservative investor or as much as 30% for an aggressive investor. And as part of that segment, energy stocks could make up, say half of that total. The rest could be fertilizer stocks, mining stocks and so on.

Oil and gas stocks have been below-average performers lately, and many investors are tempted to get out of the industry altogether. However, the energy sector can play a crucial role in your portfolio as a hedge against inflation. The low inflation rates of the past couple of decades deserve some of the blame for the poor performance of the sector. However, energy stocks will likely rebound in years to come as the global economy recovers.

  1. Invest mainly in well-established companies;
  2. Spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; Consumer; Finance; Utilities);
  3. Downplay or avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight.

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Commodity Investments
Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock or investment we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in it at this time.

Metalore Resources (symbol MET on Toronto; www.metaloreresources.com) produces natural gas in Southwestern Ontario. It owns or controls approximately 40,000 of petroleum, natural gas and mineral leases in Norfolk County.

Right now, the company is producing gas from 85 wells. It also distributes gas to 85 businesses and consumers along its gathering pipelines through an agreement with Union Gas Ltd.

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Commodity Investments
Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock or investment we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in it at this time.

Cardiff Energy (symbol CRS on Toronto; www.cardiffenergy.com), is a junior oil and gas exploration firm. It first sold shares to the public and began trading in April 2012.

Cardiff holds interests in 15 producing oil wells, one producing gas well and three shut-in oil wells in the Lincoln County area of central Oklahoma. It also has holdings in other parts of the state, including seven producing oil and gas wells in the Garvin County area and interests in the Buzzard Sand oil property in Osage County.

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Commodity Investments
Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendations on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor.

A sinkhole recently forced Russia’s Uralkali to close its Solikamsk-2 mine, which accounts for 20% of Uralkali’s potash production and 3.5% of global capacity.

Uralkali didn’t say how long it would take to reopen the mine, but it could close it permanently.

Regardless of the length of the shutdown, high potash inventories will continue to weigh on prices. Moreover, this year’s record U.S. harvest has hurt corn, soybean and wheat prices, prompting farmers to store excess crops while they wait for a rebound.

However, we feel that steady sales from Agrium’s retail stores give it an advantage over bulk fertilizer producers like Potash Corp.

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Commodity Investments
Oil and gas industry. Work of refinery petrochemical plant. Oil reservoir and storage tank of mineral oil. Blue sky above factory
Spade
Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor.

ShawCor makes coatings for oil and natural gas pipelines. Its shares have fallen with the recent drop in the price of oil. However, it is a leader in its niche industry and should rebound strongly when energy prices recover. The drop also means the stock now trades at an attractive multiple to its projected earnings.

SHAWCOR LTD. (Toronto symbol SCL; www.shawcor.com) makes sealants and coatings that keep oil and natural gas pipelines from rusting. It also makes industrial products, like electrical wire and protective sheaths.

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Commodity Investments
Every Thursday we bring you our best U.S. stock picks. You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You will read about stocks making moves you should know about, most often from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster. Today’s stock is covered in our advisory on more aggressive investing, Stock Pickers Digest.

DEVON ENERGY CORP. (New York symbol DVN; www.dvn.com) is one of the largest U.S.-based oil and natural gas explorers and producers. Its production mix is 48% gas and 52% oil.

In 2011, Devon sold all of its international and Gulf of Mexico properties, which it saw as risky and expensive to develop.

The company narrowed its focus even further with the July 2014 sale of some of its properties to Linn Energy for $2.3 billion. The sale included Devon’s holdings in the Rockies, the onshore Gulf Coast and the Mid-Continent region (which includes Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas).

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Investment Counsellor
Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in the stock at this time. ZARGON OIL & GAS (Toronto symbol ZAR; www.zargon.ca) produces natural gas and oil in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota. Its output is 62% oil and 38% gas....
Commodity Investments
Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in the stock at this time. Virtus Oil and Gas Corp. (symbol VOIL on the OTCQB market; www.virtusoilandgas.com), began trading in June 2014. The OTCQB market, formerly called the U.S. over-the-counter bulletin board, has no minimum financial standards and includes shell companies and penny stocks with minimal operations....
Investment Advice
Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor. CRESCENT POINT ENERGY CORP. (Toronto symbol CPG; www.crescentpointenergy.com) produces oil and natural gas in Western Canada, with a focus on its Bakken light oil development in southeastern Saskatchewan. Its output is 91% oil and 9% gas. In the three months ended June 30, 2014, Crescent Point’s cash flow rose 26.2%, to $636.7 million from $504.4 million a year earlier....
Investment Advice
Every Thursday we bring you “Best U.S. Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You will read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster. We feel the best way to invest in the cyclical oil and gas industry is through well-established producers whose high-quality operations give them plenty of cash flow to replenish their reserves and pay for share buybacks and dividends. CHEVRON CORP. (New York symbol CVX; www.chevron.com) is the second-largest integrated oil company in the U.S. by revenue, after ExxonMobil (New York symbol XOM)....
Copper Stocks
Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for advice on specific stocks, as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week we offer you a report on one of the stocks profiled in these Q&A sessions. Beginning this week, we give you Pat’s buy-hold-sell recommendation as well as his analysis of the stock. This is part of our new approach offering you regular and specific buy, hold and sell advice in our daily posts. Every week you’ll get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Best Canadian Stocks” on Tuesday, and “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday. This week an Inner Circle member asked us about an acquisition by the largest of Canada’s copper stocks. First Quantum Minerals became the leading Canadian copper producer with its 2013 acquisition of Inmet Mining. Now it is making a major acquisition in Argentina. Pat assesses the company’s projected production from the Taca Taca deposit, as well as the considerable political risk of doing business in financially troubled Argentina. Q: Hi Pat: I’d like to know what you think of First Quantum Minerals. They are in the process of acquiring Lumina Copper, which I own. As always, thank you for your valuable input....