BP PLC (BP)

(A Top Pick Dec 5/13. Down 11.96%.) Feels the majors generally are on sale. They have performed better, relative to the smaller/mid-cap stories. It gives you a relatively defensible dividend and you will get some upside. Up 13.5% from its 52 week low.

(Top Pick Dec 05/13, Down 5.72%) He is still buying it for clients. The Russian event affected this stock. This company is on sale and longer term oil prices are going higher.

This has been a challenging story over the last few years. Strategically the Macondo disaster in the US basically forced them to strategically make some moves that a normal operating company wouldn’t want to be doing. Sold off some very prospective energy assets in the Gulf of Mexico and got into some huge litigation problems. This would not be his favourite name.

It was on sale because of the Gulf fiasco. They started to recover from that, then they sold a major asset and now there is the Ukraine situation. He thinks it will go higher. Has an attractive dividend. It has a substantial exposure to Russia.

Probably the cheapest of the major integrated oil/gas companies. The negative is that a good chunk of their oil production is in Russia, so it deserves to trade at some discount. They are almost finished paying off the issues with their well disaster. Heading into a period where free cash flow will be increasing. Significant dividend increases are in the cards, along with significant share buybacks. Feels it is worth about a 3^rd higher than what it is trading at, so to him it is value. Dividend of almost 5%.

If Exxon Mobile (XOM-N) is the best run of the global super majors, this one, demonstrably, is the worst run. Cheap stock at about 10X earnings with a yield of about 4.8%. This is a business that needs to shrink dramatically for it to have any chance of growing.

(Top Pick Apr 24/13, Up 23.28%) The liabilities are effectively dealt with. They are growing the company. Longer term this will be a growth story.

This is probably the cheapest of the major oil/gas companies still suffering under the shadow of the Macondo spill. About a quarter of their production is in Russia, which is always a risk. The healthy dividend is rock solid. Focused solely now on driving shareholder value so there will probably be share buybacks and dividend increases. Trading at a very cheap valuation.

He would redeploy the capital into something else. The big internationals are all over the place and it is hard to analyze them. He would go with something closer to home where you get a better yield. We have great energy companies in Canada and he would buy the local ones.

They’ve turned the corner. Going forward he would call this a Hold as he would on Exxon, Chevron, etc. too. The big super majors are predominantly becoming gas companies. This company is struggling to be relevant again and really have to sell down a lot of their assets in order to meet their litigation issues.

(A Top Pick Jan 23/13. Up 12.59%.) Ultimately, the catalyst here is the settlement of the liabilities. The longer the government drags its feet, the more that management has the ability to just move forward and start the company towards a growth path. The liability is well provisioned. Still a Buy.

Valuation across the big cap space is quite low in general. Has been some concern as to where the price of oil will come because of the new sources of supply coming on. Also, we are getting more efficient in fuel usage. Thinks the group in general is reflecting some of this, but overall this is a pretty good bet.

Have some infrastructure problems with pipelines and offshore wells that he is not convinced have been fully addressed. Good reserves and good operator, but thinks there are better opportunities elsewhere. (See Top Picks.)

A lot of the legal problems are behind them. It is working its way through the system. Trading at a discount because of all of the issues. Dividend yield of almost 5%. Very cheap valuation. A world-class collection of global energy assets. Natural gas prices are much higher outside of North America. Feels that they are going to have earnings growth in the 10% plus range and into next year as well.

(A Top Pick Dec 20/12. Up 15.73%.) The story that is overhanging this company is the liability issue around the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. He understands that unless the US government can prove gross negligence, which is very difficult to do, the company is adequately provisioned from a liability point of view. Settled 3 lawsuits today and as the process continues, you will see the stock move higher on the back of higher dividends and share buybacks.