The top oil and gas stocks this week
1. This week’s leader is Endeavour International Corporation (NYSE:END) , up 58% this week to $3.97. Endeavour has had a self-inflicted rough year and an even rougher month. Last summer, with the stock around $12, Endeavour International Corporation (NYSE:END) announced a dilutive share offering and took on additional debt to purchase oilfield assets from ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) in the North Sea. The stock dropped from a high of $12.82 to the share offering price of $7.50 and slowly continued falling.
On Feb. 14 at a price of $5, the company announced that a storm the previous week had damaged its well at East Rochelle and that it was halting operations there. At the same time, the company announced that it was hiring investment bank Tudor, Pickering, & Holt to pursue strategic alternatives. The stock immediately plummeted. You know it’s bad when the brokerage that did the most recent stock offering downgrades the stock from “buy” to “neutral,” which Global Hunter Securities did on Feb. 20.
Endeavour International Corporation (NYSE:END) hit a low of $2.36 last week. The stock has since come back a bit, but with a large debt load, a $115 million credit facility due in October, and a damaged well, things don’t look good for Endeavour International Corporation (NYSE:END). I’d pass on this one.
2. Second this week is InterOil Corporation (USA) (NYSE:IOC) , up 14% to $77.68. InterOil Corporation (USA) (NYSE:IOC) is the developer of the massive Elk and Antelope natural gas fields in Papua New Guinea and has an LNG export facility to go along with it. In November, the government of Papua New Guinea announced that it would take a 50% stake in each of the oil fields, which should derisk the project somewhat. The company has been searching for partners to build its facilities and set a firm deadline of Feb. 28 for proposals. If the company can find a partner, and if the company can get its facilities built, there are huge opportunities to export natural gas to Asia. That’s a lot of “ifs” for everything to work out, and short sellers have taken notice, with 12 million shares are currently sold short, or roughly 25% of the float. Investors should be careful.
3. And in third place this week is RigNet Inc (NASDAQ:RNET) , up 10% to $21.55. If you’ve never heard of RigNet Inc (NASDAQ:RNET), you aren’t alone. The company had its IPO in 2010 and is a provider of remote communications services to the oil rig industry. Basically, RigNet Inc (NASDAQ:RNET) provides the Internet to offshore oil rigs. The company has been growing somewhat steadily, with a CAGR of 16% since 2007. RigNet Inc (NASDAQ:RNET) has also taken market share from industry leader Harris (NYSE:HRS) CapRock, a subsidiary of Harris . In the third quarter, the company announced the acquisition of Nessco, which should further boost growth. While RigNet Inc (NASDAQ:RNET) doesn’t look particularly cheap with a P/E of 33 and EV/EBITDA of 9, its growth opportunities could warrant the high price. This is definitely one for the watchlist at the very least.
The article The Top 3 Oil and Gas Stocks This Week originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Dan Dzombak.
Dan Dzombak can be found on Twitter, @DanDzombak, or on his Facebook page, DanDzombak. He and The Motley Fool have no position in any of the stocks mentioned.
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