Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB)

Sell Halliburton (HAL-N) and buy Schlumberger (SLB-N) to avoid the superficial tax loss? This is one way of doing it. The rule is that you can't buy back the same security within 30 days. He prefers Halliburton.

The highest quality company in the oil service business. They have the leading technology and are well positioned globally. Because of the massive investment in US fracing over the last 2-3 quarters, they have been having surprisingly good earnings results. In spite of that, he wouldn’t buy the stock because he still believes the world is awash in oil. There is not going to be a shortage of crude oil for some time.

(A Top Pick May 20/16. Down 10.89%.) This space has been pretty horrendous. At that time, oil prices were moving up and were looking better. He sold his holdings.

(A Top Pick May 20/16. Down 5%.) In the space, this name has held in reasonably well. It is probably the premier services company. Because of the space, he wouldn’t be in this name right now.

He would be a buyer. Energy and fossil fuel prices are way down. There is less need for the insular services that this company provides. The area is cyclical. With lower prices, ultimately production shrinks to the point where prices come back and the cycle starts again. This company is considered the Cadillac of the oil services field.

It is the biggest and best run. It has good growth prospects. It is a reasonable long term hold.

Has sort of warmed up to energy. Thinks this company has got it right for the next cycle. Great cash flow, good operators, good track record. With the Cameron International (CAM-N) acquisition, they’ve got some great levers right now. Essentially they are executing on a very well articulated decade strategy of servicing and providing for the life of a well. Also, have some of the best technology. Dividend yield of 2.69%.

(Market Call Minute.) A great company in the oil services area. A long-term hold in energy.

(A Top Pick Feb 6/15. Down 24.14%.) Sold this in late July/15 at $87-$88. Results just released were a little bit better than the street had expected. Well-run company. Yield of around 3%.

(Top Pick Feb 6/15, Down 8.40%) A recent acquisition in drilling. It is a world class, well manage company, but he took profits and is waiting for an entry point. 2.6%)

(Top Pick Feb 14/15, Down 2.39%) Sold most of it because of oil companies’ capital budgets. He trimmed most of these holdings in the fall.

This will benefit from the merger of Baker Hughes and Halliburton. Big oil companies like to allocate their money amongst different oil service companies. Recently raised their dividend by 25%. 25% of their revenue comes from proprietary technology. Pristine balance sheet. Yield of 2.3%.

Earnings were fairly good, but these companies are going to be affected by low oil prices. Thinks all the senior players are going to do quite well as they are going to take advantage of the weaker players when they become distressed. Also, from a competitive standpoint, there is going to be a lot less competition. Coming out of these types of episodes, the senior players tend to do quite well. For a longer-term investor these are fine to hold as a piece of your portfolio.

Oil services company. The geopolitical issues has caused them to trade at a discount. Russia is slowly starting to affect them. With oil prices going down this stock will continue to be under pressure. Buy it at lower levels.

World class, broad based exploration and development company. The stock is suddenly cheap, however there is no short term support. He would recommend it in the future.