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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Energy Stocks Library Archives
CENOVUS ENERGY $12.26 (Toronto symbol CVE; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $15.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.6%; www.cenovus.com) continues to sell assets to pay down its $12.5 billion debt. That’s equal to a high 83% of its market cap.

The company recently sold its Pelican Lake heavy oil operations in northern Alberta to Canadian Natural Resources Ltd....
CRESCENT POINT ENERGY $9.88 (Toronto symbol CPG; Shares outstanding: 545.0 million; Market cap: $5.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 3.6%; www.crescentpointenergy.com) produces oil and natural gas in Western Canada. It is now focused on its Bakken light oil development in southeastern Saskatchewan....
TRILOGY ENERGY (Toronto symbol TET; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) has now been taken over by PARAMOUNT RESOURCES $24.64 (Toronto symbol POU; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (403-290-3600; www. paramountres.com; Shares outstanding: 134.7 million; Market cap: $3.3 billion; No dividends paid).

Under the deal, Trilogy shareholders got 0.267 of a Paramount share for each Trilogy share they owned.

Over the last two years, Paramount has sold assets worth more than $2.5 billion and paid off all of its debt.

The company has now expanded, through both the Trilogy takeover and its recent purchase of Apache Canada Ltd....
SASOL LTD. (ADR) $28.03 (New York symbol SSL; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (082-883-9697; www.sasol. com; ADRs outstanding: 651.4 million; Market cap: $20.3 billion; Dividend yield: 4.3%) continues to build its massive new plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana....
PRECISION DRILLING CORP. $3.47 (Toronto symbol PD; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resource sector; Shares outstanding: 293.2 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend suspended in March 2016; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.precisiondrilling....
ENCANA CORP. $11.63 (Toronto symbol ECA; Shares outstanding: 973.1 million; Market cap: $11.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 0.7%; www.encana.com) has four key properties: Montney (B.C.), Duvernay (Alberta), and Eagle Ford and Permian (both in Texas)....
ENERPLUS CORP. $11.03 (Toronto symbol ERF; Shares outstanding: 242.1 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; Dividend yield: 1.1%) produces oil and gas from properties in Western Canada—Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C.—as well as North Dakota and Montana in the western U.S....
CHESAPEAKE ENERGY $4.00 (New York symbol CHK; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (405-848-8000; www.chk.com; Shares outstanding: 908.1 million; Market cap: $3.6 billion; No dividends paid) is the second-largest producer of natural gas in the U.S. and its 12th largest producer of oil and gas liquids.

The company has sold off non-core assets to focus on its low-risk, high-return properties....
DEVON ENERGY CORP. $30.66 (New York symbol DVN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (405-235-3611; www.dvn.com; Shares outstanding: 525.7 million; Market cap: $16.1 billion; Dividend yield: 0.8%) is one of the largest explorers and producers of oil and natural gas in the U.S....
Oil prices have moved up about 8% in the past two months to roughly $50 U.S. a barrel. The gain is largely due to OPEC’s production cuts. U.S. output of shale oil has also slowed as producers focus on their most-promising operations.

We continue to recommend all investors hang on to their high-quality oil producers such as the four we analyze below....