One of the hallmarks of the past few years has been relatively low energy prices. The US benefits from massive production of oil and gas due to fracking technology and new sources of energy. However, that may be coming to an end where oil is concerned.

Analysts note that prices have surged recently. Today, we saw futures rising to @62/barrel in the US and Brent crude oil futures went up more and are now running @ $69/barrel. Analysts believe that development across the globe will drive prices higher as more people reach for–and achieve a middle-class lifestyle and thus demand for energy increases as well. In fact, some analysts are now predicting oil prices in the range of $80/barrel for 2018.

Of course, higher crude has been promised for years now, and we have not seen anything like the prices which existed prior to the Bush recession and subsequent economic crisis. Low energy prices are one of the reasons we have had issues with deflation during the ensuing decad despite the cries for higher interest rates from central banks.

Below, we present the latest data on Oil/Energy stocks from our Professional Stock Analysis Service. Top- five lists are provided for each category.  We applied some basic liquidity criteria — share price greater than $3 and average daily volume in excess of 100k shares. 

Top-Five Oil/Energy Stocks–Short-Term Forecast Returns

Ticker

Name

Mkt Price

Valuation (%)

Last 12-M Return (%)

BAK

BRASKEM SA

28.1

85.56%

28.25%

SDLP

SEADRILL PTNRS

3.95

-31.74%

N/A

PBFX

PBF LOGISTICS

21.45

1.80%

6.45%

ORIG

OCEAN RIG UDW

27.96

N/A

-99.85%

UPL

ULTRA PETRO COR

8.54

-63.20%

N/A