Any Hess owners out there?

Not sure what to do with them since there future now lies with chevron. What’s your opinion on energy stocks? Exxon,BP ?

I have been long energy for a few months now.  I made out very well last year on this.

They were in a down year in most of 2023 and I expected that to bottom out and turn around.

I am looking for 2024 to be a very good year for the energy sector as a whole and crude oil in particular.

So, I have several long positions in their stocks.  I have XOM and CVX.  I also have long positions in the commodities themselves.  I have some of the ETFs and funds, like NRGU and FSNEX.  The equipment and services stocks should be set up to do very well this year.

If you look at the divergence, or just the difference, between the S&P and Energy sector this year you will notice a big gap.  I started building some positions around the June and July period.  This gap opened up all year and closed somewhat around October time frame.  I locked in solid profits around this time.

But the year closed out with S&P up around 20% and the energy sector down about 7%.

I look for this to be somewhat different this year.  I would look for the oil to bottom out around the February timeframe and then make a decent run up.  

The Natural Gas and Heating Oil is being influenced a bit by the warmer weather so far.  But technically, it is set up for an ABCD pattern to an increase from around 15%-25% or so.

A lot of factors will be coming into play to make all of these things wash out and see what in particular takes the lead.  For example, with oil a lot is going to depend on how OPEC decides to handle supply.  The war is still a factor as well as the Middle East potential turmoil.

But overall, I am extremely positive on a bull run for the energy sector as whole and the equipment and services area in particular -- with a keen eye on oil controlling the whole sector.

That is a very brief synopsis on some of the detailed writings and talks I have done on this elsewhere.

So, yes, I would recommend investors have a position in the Energy Sector this year.

@vetdrm

 But to answer the original question.  I do not own any HES, myself.  Not because I am opposed to it.  I just have some of the other stocks.  Some of the Funds for sure have them included though.

 Thanks Raiders. Only been at it a little while but I will look into the Equip and services you speak of.

@vetdrm

 Yessir.  There are some individual stocks that are very volatile but have tremendous returns during an energy boom.  But instead of individual stocks, maybe start with a Fund or two that specializes in those sorts of things.

The theory behind these stocks is that they are in position to quickly take advantage of the opportunities.  They also will have dramatically better returns sometimes than the sector itself will.

Since you are new, I would certainly not recommend putting too much in any one stock and certainly not too much in some of the ones that are more speculative.

Good luck to you!

[Quote: Originally Posted by vetdrm]Not sure what to do with them since there future now lies with chevron. What’s your opinion on energy stocks? Exxon,BP ?[/Quote]

I'm hoping you made some good $$ with  Hess being bought out by Chevron (CHV), so congrats on that !   

I think you're in good hands with Chevron, and it should be a solid stock for the foreseeable future.  You have been an investor in the oil sector, so you know things can get volatile in the short-term.  But Long Term, with Chevron, you're getting a well-run company that's in good position for the foreseeable future.  I say that because both Exxon Mobil and Chevron have CEOs that believe oil/gas will be in our future for decades to come.  In fact, that is primarily why CHV bought Hess to begin with.  Hess has a valuable footprint in Guyana (a HUGE oil discovery in the last 10 years that XOM already has a footprint), and CHV buying Hess gives them an immediate footprint in a valuable oil reserve for decades to come. 

Now, IMHO, I would "stay away" from the "European" oil majors (BP, ENI, Total, Royal Dutch Petroleum).  They have noticeably "gone green" in recent years.  If you want to invest in "green energy" stocks, that is fine, but when I invest in an oil company, I expect them to put the brunt of their energy and $$ with what they are good at..  As an example, BP allocated so much of their resources into green energy in the last decade, that they have now "reversed" some of these earlier decisions, incorrectly assuming that the transition to electric would take place at a break neck speed. 

I think the American CEOs at Chevron & ExxonMobil have it right in that the transition to EVs will take place over decades, not over the next 5 years.  

To hedge for an electric future, ExxonMobil has recently bought a  Lithium Mine Producer.  It has the potential to build millions of EV batteries in years to come.. 

Personally, I own the Energy ETF (XLE).  Both ExxonMobil & Chevron dominate the portfolio holdings, and that is just fine with me..  Both are solid companies, and I expect them to continue being the best integrated oil companies in the world.     

Thanks for your very insightful response. You and Raiders sound like your ahead of the game.

I initially made some poor choices upon entering the investment worid and hope to stabilize in 2024. Delving further into the energy sector I picked up [VDE] as well as [XLE] funds today. Please feel free to voice your opinion on anything and everything. I am a novice and appreciate your candor.

if you are looking for energy stocks, there are a few that come to mind. 

Enterprise products

Kinder Morgan

Energy Transfer

but the best of these is Energy Transfer. a stock i have owned for years and continue to buy, both in the common stock and preferred stock. you cannot beat the dividend, and growth potential and the stock has SQUEAKY CLEAN financials.  

@Rush51

 Well said 

@vetdrm

I am not sure what you mean when you say you made ‘some poor choices’?

HES certainly was not a poor choice — unless you meant your timing was bad.  

But if you mean your other choices then just limit that part of the equation until you can fix it. 

Most folks — and by ‘folks’, I mostly mean guys — think they know more than they do.  But when it comes to money, if you do not know — then you better realize it very quickly. 

For example, the most common failure point in an investor’s plan is their own decision-making.  

If you can remove that failure point you are much more likely to succeed.  That is why I recommend the ETFs and Funds to folks.  
Most people do not have the time, expertise, or experience to adequately assess a sector, let alone a particular equity in that sector. 

It can also be somewhat confusing and disheartening to read online one guy’s recommendation and then the very next guy recommends something totally different.  

That is why with the ETFs and Funds you remove a single point of failure somewhat and are diversified — at least in that sector. 

All of the stocks and funds the folks have recommended are good ones for various reasons. 
But you have to be careful that you do not blindly buy them all.  Because if they are all similar you can overexpose yourself to one segment of one sector.  

For example, within the Energy sector alone there are many different ways to position yourself to take advantage of all of the segments within the sector.  

That is why I emphasized involvement with the services and equipment portion as well.  

There are good spots to be with the ESG providers and with the litigation side.  

But like I said, I am long in the entire sector but with a large portion tied to the oil and gas part.  
There are plenty of ways to make money on some areas that sort of explode when the sector moves.

But there are plenty of solid ways to make money if the sector is going up and to the right.

I am very interested in what you decide to do as you learn more about this area of investing.

Good luck to you!   

Both of those look really solid.  

Learned the hard way when I invested some in [VENG] vision energy corp. Green Energy. Another was [MGRM] Orthopaedics Makers of robotic surgical equipment and at the time was and is waiting on FDA approval on one of their devices. The green energy stock [VENG] wasnt a good idea in retrospect. As you can probably tell so far I am pretty energy dependent. Some non energy stocks I have are [AT@T] and [AWK]. Thanks for the tips guys. Looking into [FSNEX] and Energy transfer now.  Wow, [ET] one hell of a dividend! Thanks.

@vetdrm

 Gotcha.  Yes, there is a place for speculative stocks.  When you know a stock is waiting on some approval -- you are hoping, unless you have a good read on the approval.  When you buy a stock that is innovative or banking on new technology to take off -- those are speculation as well.

So, I would not say they are 'bad' buys.  They have/had potential.  These things may blow up sooner or later.  If they do and you do not have them, you will be upset you sold.

The issue is simply that they should be a very small portion of your investment portfolio.  For your longterm investment strategy it is better to be diversified and in good longterm growth stocks.  

But if you key in on a sector -- it should be a small part overall.  Then in that small part, the speculative stocks should be even smaller.  But everyone is always looking for the next Amazon that will blow up, or next medical drug, or next Green Energy stock, etc.

I know a couple of guys that have some rare-earth mining stocks.  They are poised for the drilling rights and the technology and demand that they think will open up very soon.  If some of these stocks take off -- they are positioned to make a fortune.  BUT they only have a small part of their portfolio in these.

That is why I say, as a newer person in this area -- let the experts make the decisions for you with the Funds and ETFs.