We recently published a list of 11 Best American Energy Stocks to Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) stands against other best American energy stocks to buy now.
On Friday, April 4, oil futures reached multiyear lows following China’s response to the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. This sparks fear of a fall in demand for oil amid a full-blown trade war. The US benchmark for oil prices, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), fell over 7% to close at $61.99 per barrel and Brent crude futures dropped more than 6% to settle at $65.58. Crude has not traded at these levels since 2021.
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Crude losses worsened as China announced it would impose additional tariffs of 34% on US goods. This announcement came as a response to President Trump’s levies, which include increased duties on China-made imports.
President Trump’s tariffs saw financial markets react strongly and crude oil prices sinking as traders assessed the potential impact of a trade war on demand. Energy-related stocks were set to extend losses after dragging the market down with sell-offs in the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq.
Crude losses also accelerated because of a decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, OPEC+, to increase supply approximately three times more than expected starting in May.
Angie Gildea, KPMG US energy leader, said that markets are still “digesting tariffs” and that the combination of higher oil supply and concerns about a weaker global economy is putting downward pressure on oil prices. She pointed out that this could lead to a new chapter in a volatile market.
Although energy was not included in the latest tariffs announced by the Trump administration on Wednesday, April 2, the escalation of a global trade war could hurt oil demand.
Our Methodology
To compile our list of the 11 best American energy stocks to buy now, we used stock screeners from Finviz and Yahoo Finance to find the largest energy companies. We sorted our results based on market capitalization and picked the top 25 American stocks. Next, we focused on the 11 stocks most favored by institutional investors. Data for the hedge fund sentiment surrounding each stock was taken from Insider Monkey’s Q4 2024 database of more than 1,000 elite hedge funds. Finally, the 11 best American energy stocks to buy now were ranked in ascending order based on the number of hedge funds holding stakes in them as of Q4 2024.
Why do we care about what hedge funds do? 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).
Oil derricks in the background with a few workers in the foreground, emphasizing the company’s oil and gas production activities.
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 68
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) is an American multinational energy company with assets primarily located in the US, the Middle East, and North Africa. The company is one of the largest oil and gas producers in the US. It is a leading oil and gas producer in the Permian and DJ basins and offshore Gulf of America. Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) ranks among the best American stocks to invest in.
On March 13, JPMorgan lowered its price target on Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) from $59 to $52 while maintaining a “Neutral” rating. This decision came after an updated analysis of exploration and production models and after taking into account factors like 2025 capital expenditure budgets, revised winter weather data, and better-than-expected liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand pull. JPMorgan warned that record US oil supply, the return of OPEC+ oil barrels to markets in April 2025, and global trade risks related to tariffs could lead to a decline in oil prices, which could force higher-cost producers out of the market.
It is worth noting that Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) is working to reduce costs and improve efficiency by focusing on replacing higher-cost production with more volume of lower-cost reserves. Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) has identified scale efficiencies and design improvements that could help save the company more than $1 million per well in its Midland Basin Program through improved drilling and completion methods. In 2025, the company expects to see a 10% faster time to market and a 7% reduction in well costs. Additionally, by February 18, 2025, Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) had already announced $1.2 billion of divestitures in the first quarter of 2025.
Overall, OXY ranks 9th on our list of best mid cap growth stocks. While we acknowledge the potential of OXY, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than OXY 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.
