We recently published a list of 11 Best Crude Oil Stocks To Buy Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) stands against other best crude oil stocks to buy right now.

Crude oil markets have seen extreme volatility over the past year, fueled by a variety of economic, geopolitical, and supply and demand factors. Prices fell at the end of 2023, when international demand faltered and supply remained strong from key regions, before rebounding in early 2024 as leading oil-producing countries implemented supply cuts to stabilize the market. Meanwhile, demand signals have been mixed — industrial activity in major economies has improved, but high interest rates and inflationary pressures have limited overall energy consumption. After the presidential elections in the US, the Trump 2.0 agenda appears to be driving cracks in the economic outlook, due to a plethora of initiatives such as tariffs, a fight with immigration, and significant cuts in government spending. Despite Republicans notoriously being pro-business and pro-carbon, as confirmed by an announced policy of encouraging energy exploration and production on Federal land and Outer Continental Shelf, the reaction of the stock market has been mixed, as many crude oil stocks have underperformed the broad market in the last couple of months.

The reluctance of the broad market to price in an acceleration in the crude oil space is likely due to expectations of lower oil prices, primarily driven by an uncertain economic and industrial outlook. A slowing economy generally consumes less oil, which coupled with an increasing supply should put downward pressure on prices. Optimism for the year ahead vanished and the outlook has become one of the gloomiest since the pandemic. Companies started to signal widespread concerns about the impact of government policies, ranging from spending cuts to tariffs and geopolitical developments. For instance, the US economic surprise index hit the lowest last week since September, while the business capex forecasts were abruptly cut at the beginning of the year. Small businesses reflect similar signals, by cutting their capex expectations (as per surveys), while consumers report deteriorating financial expectations going forward. All these developments don’t play out in favor of a strong economy in the following quarters.

Financial markets have reflected this turbulence, as energy stocks moved in tandem with the swings in oil prices, which retracted more than 10% since the inauguration day. While refiners and midstream companies have generally performed well due to resilient transportation and processing demand, exploration and production firms have faced challenges in securing new investments. Looking forward, macroeconomic and geopolitical factors will continue to shape the crude oil market. Geopolitical factors, particularly in key oil-producing regions, remain an ongoing concern – with the end of the Ukraine conflict becoming a reality, Russian oil will likely flow more freely abroad, putting even more downward pressure on global prices. Despite the aforementioned headwinds, there are also some positive takeaways for investors – while renewable energy investments continue to grow, the transition remains gradual, ensuring that crude oil will remain a critical component of the global energy mix in the future, especially under the carbon-friendly Trump 2.0 regime. Furthermore, with oil prices declining and many crude oil stocks being down from their mid-2024 highs, the current developments may turn out to be a great long-term buying opportunity.

Our Methodology

We used the Insider Monkey proprietary hedge fund holding database and identified the 11 most popular crude oil companies, ranked by the number of hedge funds that own the stock.

Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 81

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) is one of the world’s largest integrated energy companies, engaged in crude oil and natural gas exploration, production, refining, and distribution. With a global footprint spanning North America, South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, CVX operates across the entire energy value chain. Its upstream segment focuses on oil and gas production from key assets in the Permian Basin, the Gulf of Mexico, and offshore fields. Downstream, the company refines crude oil and supplies markets worldwide through its extensive network of refineries and service stations. While the company is expanding into lower-carbon solutions, crude oil remains central to its operations, driving production and revenue across its diverse portfolio.

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) delivered strong results in 2024, achieving record production both globally and in the United States. The company demonstrated exceptional performance in the Permian with production growth of nearly 18% from the previous year. Financially, CVX returned a record $27 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks, and over the past 2 years, repurchased $30 billion and reduced outstanding share count by 10%. The company achieved significant milestones including delivering key project start-ups in the Gulf of America, fully integrating PDC Energy, expanding its position in the DJ Basin, and achieving its first oil at the future growth project at TCO. In the new energies business, CVX sold over 20 million barrels of bio-based diesel and advanced foundational projects in CCUS and hydrogen, while completing projects designed to abate over 700,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.

Looking ahead, Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) expects to add $10 billion of annual free cash flow in 2026, led by growth in advantaged upstream assets. The company plans to achieve industry-leading free cash flow growth while maintaining cost and capital discipline and advancing opportunities in renewable fuels, hydrogen, CCUS, and power. Production is expected to grow around 6% annually through 2026, excluding asset sales, with growth weighted towards the second half of 2025 as key projects in Tengiz and the Gulf of America come online. The company is targeting $2 billion to $3 billion in structural cost reductions by the end of 2026 through asset sales, scaling technology solutions, and improving operational efficiencies, which should allow the company to maintain its profitability even under lower oil prices.

Overall, CVX ranks 4th on our list of best crude oil stocks to buy right now. While we acknowledge the potential of CVX as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CVX but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.