Three Oil And Gas Buys

On Tuesday, broker Jefferies came out with a list of the nine top energy stocks to buy. I picked two, which in my opinion are among the best, and one of my own and came up with a list of 3 oil and gas stocks to buy.

Penn Virginia (PVA) engages in the exploration and development of natural gas and oil properties in various onshore regions of the United States. The company is involved in the production and sale of natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquid products. It primarily focuses on developing the Eagle Ford Shale play in south Texas. The company also engages in drilling development wells in the horizontal Granite Wash play in the Mid-Continent region; and the Haynesville Shale and Cotton Valley Sands plays in east Texas, as well as in Selma Chalk play.

PVA’s shares traded as high as $15 a share two years ago but tough times have settled in and the shares are now at four bucks. Jefferies and the Street are both bullish on the shares with Jefferies having a $6.50 target on the stock while the Street has the shares at $6.75. PVA shares could be at a bottom here with the lowest price target on the shares at exactly $4.00. Shares rallying to the Jefferies’ price target would result in a gain of 60% in the stock.

Recent news for the company includes an asset purchase in the Eagle Ford Shale play for $400 million. The company acquired approximately 40,600 (19,000 net) mineral acres located in Gonzales and Lavaca Counties, Texas, in areas adjacent to its current position in both counties. Based on a third-party reserve engineering firm’s year-end 2012 review of the acquired assets, proved reserves as of December 31, 2012 were approximately 12.0 MMBOE, 96 percent of which were crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs) and 37 percent of which were proved developed.

Swift Energy (SFY) engages in acquiring, exploring, developing, and operating oil and natural gas properties. It focuses on oil and natural gas reserves in Texas, as well as onshore and in the inland waters of Louisiana. As of December 31, 2012, the company had estimated proved reserves of 192.1 million barrels of oil equivalent.

SFY’s shares traded at a price of over $40 a share just about 2 years ago but now the stock is at $13. Jefferies has a price target of $25 on the stock while the Street consensus target is at $21. The stock is actually trading below the lowest Street target, which is at $16. If the stock as able to achieve that price level, that would be a gain of 20%. Insiders have been scooping up shares of the company over the past year with the most recent batch of purchases coming at the end of February.

On Thursday, the shares jumped after the company reported Q1 earnings that beat the street consensus. Swift Energy recorded a 96% increase in 1st quarter earnings year over year while adjusted cash flow was at $1.67 a share. The company provided some guidance in the release, more qualitative than quantitative, saying “our focus remains on improving performance, cost efficiencies and results throughout our active operational areas. We are also taking steps to introduce new, high value opportunities to our operations through horizontal drilling in the Louisiana Wilcox, horizontal drilling in the Southwestern Colorado Niobrara and Subsalt exploration in South Louisiana. Finally, as demonstrated by the sale of our Brookeland field, we will be looking at monetizing assets we control that are not a focus of our operations to bring forward unrecognized value in our portfolio.”

Multi-Corp International (MULI) is led by President and CEO, Jean Mann. Mrs. Mann for the past 47 years has been undertaking consulting work for various companies by way of providing Full Accounting & Financial Services, assistance in raising funding, contract negotiation and preparation of Oil and Gas reports for leases in New Mexico and Texas, as well as working closely with the Oil Conservation Board on BLM on sundry reports for lease lands.Mrs. Mann intends to devote a substantial portion of her time to the company and intends to seek out potential acquisitions or mergers for the company in various sectors including but not limited to the Oil and Gas Industry.

The most recent acquisition came at the end of last year when the company entered into two agreements with Quad Energy whereby the corporation acquired a 100% Working Interest in the 2,800 acre Cave Pool Property in Eddy County, New Mexico and all of the production equipment on the 2,800 acre Cave Pool Propertyincluding all of the pump jacks, storage tanks, batteries and existing inventory of oil on the 37 existing well locations.