2 Growing Oil and Gas Stocks to Buy, 3 to Avoid

The oil industry has historically been the domain of Middle Eastern kingdoms, however over the last two decades or so US oil companies have made great strides towards narrowing the gap. Energy analysts predict that in order to maintain a sustainable growth in the global economy in the coming years new immense investments in the oil and gas sector are needed. Here we look at five companies that have fared well in the industry over the past few years and determine whether that performance is expected to continue for them in the future. Apache Corporation (APA): Shares are roughly in the lower half of their 52 –week trading range of $73.04 to $134.13. The current market price translates into a market capitalization of $38.25 billion. Earnings per share for the last year were $9.95, and it paid a dividend of $0.60, yielding 0.60%. Its price to earnings ratio of 10.01 is excellent when compared to the industry average of 20.77, and also to direct competitor Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (APC), which has a price to earnings ratio of 46.62. Such favorable comparison is also present when we compare its operating margin of 48.67% (from a gross margin of 82.91%) to Anadarko’s…