3 Oil & Gas Plays Essay

Submitted By AChaudry1
Words: 499
Pages: 2

3 Oil & Gas Companies To Buy Right Now

I used the following screener to find the following plays:
Independent Oil & Gas
PEG < 1

Forward P/E < 10

Two of the following stocks may currently trade at a fair price based on historical P/E, however they are bargains when you look at their forward P/E and future growth opportunities.

Bellatrix Exploration Ltd (BXE)

Bellatrix Exploration is an oil and gas company based in Canada. The firm has a lot of land in Alberta, Canada. There are 14 analysts covering the stock all giving a strong buy/buy rating and an average target of $12 a share. Bellatrix continues to grow rapidly every year, with no signs of stopping any time soon.

Source - http://www.bellatrixexploration.com/docs/default-source/presentations/bxe-corporate-presentation-sept-2-2014.pdf?sfvrsn=6

Average EPS estimates for 2015 are 0.84 per share. Applying a PE multiple of 10 (which it is currently trading above at 10.8), I can see the stock trading at $8.40 by the end of 2015. This represents a return of 21% from current levels ($6.9 a share).

The firm has a PEG ratio of 0.36. PEG looks at the P/E ratio divided by the annual EPS growth. A figure below 1 is seen as undervalued. A figure of 0.36 highlights the current P/E ratio hardly takes into account the growth opportunities the firm has to offer over the next few years.

Abraxas Petroleum Corp (AXAS)

I am going to use the same logic I used for BXE. Average EPS estimates for 2015 are 0.69 per share. Applying a conservative PE multiple of 10 (it is currently trading at a multiple of 13.15), I can see the stock trading at $6.90 in the medium term. This represents a return of 31% from current levels ($5.26