The price of natural gas has doubled in the past year. However, natural gas stocks have largely ignored that rise and either remained depressed or lagged behind gas prices.
Maybe that’s because investors take it for granted that winters will remain warm, thanks to global warming. But if that’s how things turn out, rising temperatures will raise demand for air conditioning, which runs on gaspowered electricity plants.
At the same time, environmentalists mostly oppose expanding facilities for liquefied natural gas. These projects would let producers ship more of their surplus gas overseas, where natural gas prices are much higher.
Instead, environmentalists would prefer to leave the gas in the ground and expand wind and solar power. However, solar and wind provide only intermittent sources of power, and they require heavy subsidies.
At current low prices, many gas stocks offer attractive growth prospects. Eventually, we think these stocks are likely to boom.
Meanwhile, Bellatrix Exploration $5.93 (see left) is our top pick in this group for aggressive investors. Bellatrix is a buy.
