Over the past couple of years, one of the most obvious trends in the energy exploration and production business has been the shift away from drilling for natural gas and toward drilling for oil and, to a lesser degree, gas liquids.
It all boils down to price. With natural gas prices at under $4 per MMBtu, most energy companies simply had no financial incentive to produce the out-of-favor commodity. And when prices dipped below $2 per MMBtu last spring, virtually every energy producer that was still drilling for natural gas was taking sizable losses.
But things are finally looking up. Natural gas prices have seen a general upward trend since bottoming out in April last year, as many analysts argued they would. Since the middle of February, prices are up by nearly 25%.
So why aren't energy companies rushing into gassier plays?
Is gas too cheap to produce?
The short answer is that oil production is still much more profitable than natural gas production. Despite the recent surge in gas prices and decline in oil prices, oil remains about six times more expensive than natural gas on an energy equivalent basis.
Hot Cheapest Companies To Watch In Right Now: USG Corporation(USG)
USG Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and distribution of building materials worldwide. The company offers gypsum and related products, including gypsum wallboard, joint compounds used for finishing wallboard joints, cement boards, glass mat sheathing, gypsum fiber panels, poured gypsum underlayments, ultra light panels, and various construction plaster products. Its gypsum products are used in various building applications to finish the interior walls, ceilings, and floors in residential, commercial, and institutional constructions, and repair and remodel constructions. The company also produces gypsum-based products for agricultural and industrial customers to use in various applications, including soil conditioning, road repair, fireproofing, and ceramics. In addition, it manufactures ceiling grid and acoustical ceiling tile for electrical and mechanical systems, and air distribution and maintenance applications. USG Corporation distribut es its gypsum products through specialty wallboard distributors, building materials dealers, home improvement centers and other retailers, contractors, and a network of distributors. Further, it distributes other manufacturers? gypsum wallboard, joint compound and other gypsum products, as well as drywall metal, insulation, and roofing products and accessories. The company sells its products under SHEETROCK, DUROCK, FIBEROCK, SECUROCK, LEVELROCK, RED TOP, IMPERIAL, DIAMOND, SUPREMO, AURATONE, ACOUSTONE, DONN, DX, FINELINE, CENTRICITEE, CURVATURA, and COMPASSO brands. The company was founded in 1901 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Holly LaFon]
Pimco managing director Mark Kiesel mentions Whirlpool (WHR), Weyerhaeuser (WY), USG (USG), Toll Brothers (TOLL) and KB Home (KBH) as good plays on housing:�
- [By Eric Volkman]
She also serves as chairman of the United States Steel and Carnegie Pension Fund, and on that organization's investment committee. Outside of U.S. Steel, she sits on the board of directors of USG (NYSE: USG ) and the Pennsylvania Business Council, among other entities.
- [By Matt Jarzemsky]
While economists attributed some of the downtick to cold and snowy weather, some are wondering if the Federal Reserve�� plan to dial back its stimulus program this year could lead to a rise in interest rates, putting the brakes on the housing recovery. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders exchange-traded fund��hich tracks a broad basket of housing-related stocks from builders to Sheetrock maker USG Corp.(USG)��s down about 3.6% year-to-date.
10 Best Cheap Stocks To Watch Right Now: CVS Corporation(CVS)
CVS Caremark Corporation operates as a pharmacy services company in the United States. The company?s Pharmacy Services segment provides a range of pharmacy benefit management services, including mail order pharmacy services, specialty pharmacy services, plan design and administration, formulary management, and claims processing; and drug benefits to eligible beneficiaries under the Federal Government?s Medicare Part D program. This segment primarily serves employers, insurance companies, unions, government employee groups, managed care organizations and other sponsors of health benefit plans, and individuals. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 44 retail specialty pharmacy stores, 18 specialty mail order pharmacies, and 4 mail service pharmacies located in 25 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. This segment operates business under the CVS Caremark Pharmacy Services, Caremark, CVS Caremark, CarePlus CVS/pharmacy, CarePlus, RxAmerica, Accordant, and TheraCom names. The company?s Retail Pharmacy segment sells prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, beauty products and cosmetics, seasonal merchandise, greeting cards, and convenience foods through its pharmacy retail stores and online, as well as offers film and photo finishing, and health care services. This segment operated 7,182 retail drugstores located in 41 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia; and 560 retail health care clinics in 26 states and the District of Columbia under the MinuteClinic name. It has a strategic alliance with Alere, L.L.C. for the management of disease management program offerings that cover chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes, congestive heart failure, and coronary artery disease. CVS Caremark Corporation was founded in 1892 and is based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lauren Pollock]
CVS Caremark Corp.(CVS) agreed to buy medical provider Coram LLC from Apria Healthcare Group Inc. for roughly $2.1 billion, continuing its push into the specialty-drug market. Coram provides infusion therapies–giving medicine through a needle or catheter
- [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET]
CVS Caremark provides healthcare and general products and services to consumers across the nation. The company recently reported earnings that left investors satisfied. The stock has been rising higher and it is now consolidating at all time high prices. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenue figures have been increasing leaving investors pleased about CVS Caremark�� earnings announcements. Relative to its peers and sector, CVS Caremark has been an average year-to-date performer. Look for CVS Caremark to OUTPERFORM.
- [By Keith Speights]
Express Scripts isn't alone in experiencing improved generic utilization. CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS ) saw its overall rate increase from 76.5% in its first quarter of 2012 to 80.5% in the same quarter this year. UnitedHealth didn't report detailed numbers for OptumRx last quarter, but noted that it was seeing improvements in its generic mix that helped drive earnings higher. Catamaran (NASDAQ: CTRX ) also experienced a solid 3% year-over-year jump during the first quarter to 83%.
10 Best Cheap Stocks To Watch Right Now: Hewlett-Packard Company(HPQ)
Hewlett-Packard Company and its subsidiaries provide products, technologies, software, solutions, and services to individual consumers and small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), as well as to the government, health, and education sectors worldwide. Its Personal Systems Group segment offers commercial personal computers (PCs), consumer PCs, workstations, calculators and other related accessories, and software and services for the commercial and consumer markets. The company?s Services segment provides consulting, outsourcing, and technology services to infrastructure, applications, and business process domains. Its Imaging and Printing Group segment provides consumer and commercial printer hardware, supplies, media, and scanning devices, such as inkjet and Web solutions, laser jet and enterprise solutions, managed enterprise solutions, graphics solutions, and printer supplies. The company?s Enterprise Servers, Storage, and Networking segment offers industry standard s ervers, business critical systems, storage platforms, and networking products, including switches, routers, wireless LAN, and TippingPoint network security products. Its HP Software segment provides enterprise IT management software, information management solutions, and security intelligence/risk management solutions. The company?s HP Financial Services segment offers leasing, financing, utility programs, and asset recovery services; and financial asset management services for enterprise customers, as well as specialized financial services to SMBs, and educational and governmental entities. Hewlett-Packard Company also provides business intelligence solutions that enable businesses to standardize on consistent data management schemes, connect and share data across the enterprise, and apply analytics, as well as licenses its specific technology to third parties. The company was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Philip Springer]
The U.S. economy grew, sort of, at a miniscule annual rate of 0.1 percent in the first quarter, according to the Commerce Dept. This preliminary reading, the first of three, was far below pessimistic expectations. This underperformance has occurred several times since the on-again, off-again recovery officially began in June 2009.
No wonder U.S. government bond yields have declined this year, contrary to most expectations, with the 10-year Treasury going from 3 percent to as low as 2.6 percent.
The first quarter’s economic weakness was attributed primarily to a 7.6 percent decline in exports, partly because of economic weakness in Europe and Asia. Poor weather, a favorite excuse for everything that went wrong during the winter, probably played a part in the export slump.
Also noteworthy, however: Business spending on equipment fell at a 5.5 percent annual pace in the first three months of the year, the largest decline since 2009.
Regardless of the causes, the tepid (to be generous) GDP reading marks a continuation of the still-sluggish growth in the current five-year economic expansion.
The report came right before the Federal Reserve announced that it is continuing to reduce, or taper, its bond purchases to $45 billion a month, from the original $85 billion. The Fed says it’s starting to see faster growth after the harsh winter.
The Fed also maintained its guidance on short-term interest rates, saying they would remain near zero for a “considerable time” after the bond-buying program ends later this year. The current expectation is that the Fed won’t start to raise interest rates until well into 2015.
However, evidence of a possible economic rebound came the next day, May 2. The federal government�� jobs report for April showed a jump of 288,000, with a sharp decline in the official unemployment rate to 6.3 percent.
Meanwhile, corporate profits continue to grow, albeit modest - [By Tim Brugger]
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) �is making inroads in a key market, and at the rate its going, longtime stalwarts including Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ ) and IBM (NYSE: IBM ) better stand up and take notice.
- [By Rich Bieglmeier]
[Related -Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) Q2 Earnings Preview: Enough Margin For Victory]
When profitable since 2009, Hewlett-Packard's P/E range was 5.27 to 16.83 times earnings with an average of 11.26. Today, investors are paying slightly above the norm at 12.11. During the same timeframe, earnings per share actually contracted on an annual basis; falling an average of 3.78% a year.
- [By Jeremy Bowman]
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ ) topped Dow stocks today, gaining 1.8% and hitting a new 52-week high after receiving an upgrade from Citigroup to "buy" all the way from "sell," as analyst Jim Suva endorsed the PC-maker's turnaround strategy, saying it had cut $3 billion in costs through employee layoffs and was moving away from past failed strategies. Ironically, the upgrade came on the same day as tech research firm Gartner reported that worldwide PC shipments drop 11% in the second quarter, the fifth consecutive quarter of declines. In total, 76 million PCs were shipped, down from 85 million a year ago, and Lenovo narrowly beat out HP for the top spot. Facing the inevitable decline of the computer, HP has focused on enterprise and services as a way to drive profit growth.
10 Best Cheap Stocks To Watch Right Now: Oracle Corporation(ORCL)
Oracle Corporation, an enterprise software company, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and services database and middleware software, applications software, and hardware systems worldwide. It licenses of database and middleware software, including database management software, application server software, service-oriented architecture and business process management software, data integration software, business intelligence software, identity and access management software, content management software, portals and user interaction software, development tools, and Java; and applications software comprising enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, enterprise performance management, supply chain management, business intelligence applications, enterprise portfolio project management, Web commerce, and industry-specific applications software. The company also offers customers with rights to unspecified software product upgrades and maintenance releases; Internet access to technical content; and Internet and telephone access to technical support personnel. In addition, its hardware systems products consist of computer server and hardware-related software, including the Oracle Solaris Operating System; and storage products, such as tape, disk and networking solutions for open systems and mainframe server environments. Its hardware systems support solutions include software updates for the software components. Further, the company offers consulting solutions in business and IT strategy alignment, enterprise architecture planning and design, initial product implementation and integration, and ongoing product enhancements and upgrades; cloud services, including Oracle Cloud Services and Advanced Customer Services; and education solutions comprising instructor-led, media-based, and Internet-based training in the use of its software and hardware products. The company was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Redwood Ci ty, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Caplinger]
But IBM has had to deal with increasing competition to its business model. Business software giant Oracle (NYSE: ORCL ) has finally reached an impressive execution milestone in the strategy it began four years ago with its acquisition of Sun Microsystems: Oracle's new chips and server products managed to best Big Blue's offerings in independent benchmark testing. Smaller companies will increasingly find their own niche roles in the big-data space as well. For instance, CyrusOne (NASDAQ: CONE ) , which got spun off from Cincinnati Bell recently, is seeking to make a name for itself in the data-storage infrastructure space. Despite its hefty debt load, CyrusOne has huge growth potential to capitalize on the growing need for data-storage centers, and it has the benefits of tax-favored real-estate investment trust status to boot.
- [By Seth Jayson]
Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL ) is expected to report Q4 earnings on June 20. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:
The 10-second takeaway
Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Oracle's revenues will expand 1.1% and EPS will expand 7.3%. - [By Roland Head]
Oracle (NYSE: ORCL ) stock is likely to be actively traded when markets open. The firm's stock is down 7.6% in premarket trading after its fourth-quarter sales of $10.95 billion missed analysts' expectations for revenue of $11.12 billion, though the firm met adjusted earnings forecasts of $0.87 per share. Oracle's full-year results hit consensus forecasts for earnings of $2.68 per share, but revenue fell slightly short again, leaving investors concerned by weak sales at the software giant. On a more positive note, Oracle announced that it was doubling its dividend to $0.12 per share.
- [By Anders Bylund]
IBM's business model has long been an archetype for the enterprise computing industry. Its top-to-bottom combination of hardware, software, and services is the envy of Silicon Valley. Networking giant Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO ) added a server division in order to get closer to the IBM ideal. Oracle (NYSE: ORCL ) walked further down the same path when it acquired Sun Microsystems. And the list goes on.
10 Best Cheap Stocks To Watch Right Now: Popular Inc.(BPOP)
Popular, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides a range of retail and commercial banking products and services primarily to corporate clients, small and middle size businesses, and retail clients in Puerto Rico and Mainland United States. It offers deposit products; commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans, as well as lease finance; and finance and advisory services. The company also offers trust and asset management, brokerage and investment banking, and insurance and reinsurance services. As of December 31, 2010, it owned and occupied approximately 94 branch premises and other facilities in Puerto Rico; and 119 offices, including 20 owned and 99 leased in New York, Illinois, New Jersey, California, Florida, and Texas. Popular, Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Maria Armental var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); popups.forEach]
Popular Inc.(BPOP), Puerto Rico’s largest bank, said Wednesday that regulators approved its plan to repay the $935 million rescue package it received during the financial crisis. Popular was the U.S. government’s largest remaining crisis-era bailout after auto-lender Ally Financial Inc.(ALLY), which has paid back more than the $17.2 billion bailout it received during the financial crisis as a result of going public in April.
10 Best Cheap Stocks To Watch Right Now: Global Payments Inc.(GPN)
Global Payments Inc. provides electronic transaction processing services for merchants, independent sales organizations (ISO), financial institutions, government agencies, and multi-national corporations located in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. It offers a comprehensive line of processing solutions for credit and debit cards; business-to-business purchasing cards; gift cards; and electronic check conversion and check guarantee, verification, and recovery, including electronic check services, as well as terminal management. The company also offers proprietary software products to establish revolving check cashing limits for the casinos? customers in the gaming industry. In addition, it sells, installs, and services automated teller machine and point of sale terminals; and provides card issuing services, including card management and card personalization. The company markets its products directly, as well as through ISOs, retail outlets, tra de associations, alliance bank relationships, and financial institutions. Global Payments Inc. has a joint venture with La Caixa Group to provide merchant acquiring services to merchants in Spain. Global Payments Inc. was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Monica Gerson]
Global Payments (NYSE: GPN) is expected to post its Q1 earnings at $0.95 per share on revenue of $623.79 million.
Synergetics USA (NASDAQ: SURG) is projected to post its Q4 earnings at $0.06 per share on revenue of $17.01 million.
- [By Monica Gerson]
Global Payments (NYSE: GPN) reported upbeat fiscal first-quarter results and raised its annual forecast. Global Payments named Jeffrey S. Sloan as its new chief executive and announced its plans to buy back up to $100 million of its common stock. Global Payments shares surged 6.80% to $54.15 in the after-hours trading session.
- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Wednesday
Earnings Expected From: Uniferst (NYSE: UNF), Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ), RPM International (NYSE: RPM), Global Payments (NYSE: GPN) Economic Releases Expected: German trade balance, German factory orders, Australian retail salesThursday
10 Best Cheap Stocks To Watch Right Now: AeroVironment Inc.(AVAV)
AeroVironment, Inc. designs, develops, produces, and supports unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and efficient energy systems for various industries and governmental agencies. Its UAS provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, including real-time tactical reconnaissance, tracking, combat assessment, and geographic data to the small tactical unit or individual war fighter. The UAS wirelessly transmit critical live video and other information generated by their payload of electro-optical or infrared sensors directly to a hand-held ground control system, enabling the operator to view and capture images during the day or at night on a hand-held ground control unit. AeroVironment also provides spare equipment, alternative payload modules, batteries, chargers, repair services, and customer support for the UAS. In addition, the company produces industrial productivity and clean transportation solutions for commercial and government customers, develops potential clean t ransportation solutions, and performs contract engineering services; offers PosiCharge electric vehicle charging systems for industrial electric material handling fleets, electric vehicle charging systems for passenger and fleet vehicles, and power cycling and test systems for developers and manufacturers of plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as battery packs, electric motors, and fuel cells; and supplies power cycling and test systems to research and development organizations that focus on developing electric propulsion systems, electric generation systems, and electricity storage systems. It supplies its UAS primarily to the organizations within the United States department of defense. AeroVironment, Inc. was incorporated in 1971 and is headquartered in Monrovia, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Lauren Pollock]
AeroVironment Inc.'s(AVAV) fiscal second-quarter profit fell 81% on a sharp decline in revenue and margins. However, shares were up 4.4% at $28.10 in premarket trading as the maker of pilotless drones and rechargeable-batteries reported adjusted earnings and revenue that topped expectations.
- [By Brian Pacampara]
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, unmanned aerial vehicle specialist AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.
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