Motley Fool’s “Peak Oil Profits: 3 Overlooked Energy Stocks Ready to Run”

by Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe | April 8, 2008 6:22 am

This teaser came in recently for the Motley Fool[1]’s Income Investor[2] newsletter which, you will be unsurprised to hear, is focused on dividend investing[3] — though they often focus just as much on dividend growth as on current yields, so not all of their picks have super-high yields.

They would love you to take a flier on a subscription to their service, which is currently run by James Early[4] and Andy Cross[5], and they’d love to charge you $149 a year for the newsletter … which may or may not be worth it. According to Hulbert, this one has underperformed the broader market for the last three years, but more than half of that time was with a different person at the helm. To be fair, it’s also quite likely that, like most income investing services, they have a lot of financial stocks in their portfolio, which would have significantly depressed returns. The last stock we saw from Income Investor was the very aggressively promoted CapitalSource mortgage REIT[6], which is still in the weeds but has staged a “small recovery over the last couple weeks.

But anyway, whether or not this is a fabulous newsletter I know that many of you are always interested in energy comapanies of various stripes … and “overlooked” energy companies perhaps most of all. So what is the Fool touting here?

They’ve got three of them … we’ll look at ’em in order.

First, they start out by saying that “2 of the most powerful and proven investing secrets of all-time are pointing our small group to a PEAK OIL BONANZA…”

Those two secrets are, broadly speaking, dividends[7] and commodities. The first “secret” is that boring old dividend-paying companies signficiantly outperformed new technologies and new industries over the past fifty years (this is from Jeremy Siegel’s fabulous study, published in book form in The Future For Investors, which I certainly recommend to everyone). The second “secret” appears to be that commodities and energy trading have made some huge fortunes — this teaser mentiones Jim Rogers and Sir John Templeton[8]. I doubt that either of those “secrets” was truly unknown to the great Gumshoe cognoscenti, but perhaps we can still learn something here.

So what are the three overlooked energy stocks that pay nice dividends and are “ready to run?”

“Peak Oil Profit Play #1: Is a leader in deep-water[9] drilling… has 15 years of proven reserves… and rights to explore and develop a region reputed to have billions of barrels of oil[10]…”

Here’s a further excerpt on this one:

“This out-of-the-way oil company is a leader in deep-water drilling… has 15 years of reserves… a plan to supercharge production… and a strong dividend …. Its domestic oil market is expected to grow 4% annually through 2010 — that’s double the world average. And this company has what it takes to not only meet that demand, but expand into the international arena as well. In fact, they’re gunning to hike total fuel production 7.8% annually during roughly that same time period. That’s a rate oil-major peers can’t even come close to.”

And they say you can still get this one cheap … so what is it?

Sound of feverish whirring within the Thinkolator … and what’s that? A little whiff of lime? An aroma of rum? No, no, not rum, that’s a Caipirinha! Well done, Thinkolator, this stock is …

Petrobras (PBR or PBRA)

This is one of many shares that carries a twinge of regret for your friendly neighborhood Gumshoe — I used to own this one, and sold way, way too early (like, nearly 200% ago). I have nothing bad to say about Petrobras, except that as with all Brazilian companies it would be wise to keep an eye on valuation and currency — a fair amount of the move up in the shares has been thanks to the appreciation of the Brazilian currency (the Real) against the dollar, and Petrobras no longer trades at a screaming discount to most other oil majors (though it is still cheaper than most on earnings). That said, the currency appreciated for a reason, this is essentially an oil monopoly with huge new deepwater reserves that they’re still booking and exploring, and they have a home market whose consumption is likely to climb pretty significantly over the coming decades even with their vaunted sugar[11] cane ethanol[12] production.

Petrobras is still effectively controlled by the government, so you have some risk there since governments can change — and even dramatically so, especially in Latin America — but that has lately been more of a positive than a negative influence. Even the one-time firebrand socialist Lula has embraced a working and growing capitalist economy to a large degree, and corporate champions that bring in gazillions of dollars are not to be pushed aside or pulled under further government influence lightly. Brazil has only to look at Venezuela and Mexico[13] to see how much a bureaucracy can screw up an oil company if given half a chance.

Do note that there are two versions of Petrobras that trade on the NYSE, the regular and the preferred A shares. The A shares trade at a discount for no good reason, so I would always go with those (they are the preferred shares, if I remember the terminology correctly, which make up most of the trading volume in Brazil but less of the volume on the NYSE). The dividend does not provide a particularly high yield at the current price and last year’s dividend was a bit lower than other recent years, but the dividend should grow substantially in the coming decade if they are successful at harvesting their deepwater oil and if the price of oil remains so favorable. They do plan to raise production 7.8% by 2011, so production growth does at least appear to be likely.

The minimum dividend is stated as being 5% for the preferred shares, depending on some criteria, and the minimum dividend for the regular shares is 25% of earnings, but preferred share dividends always get a boost if the regular share dividend is higher and the preferred shares get priority in dividend disbursement, so I see no reason to own the common stock when preferred shares are available (there probably is a reason, if you see it feel free to share). If you want to review their dividend policies and other information, Petrobras does have an excellent Investor Relations website in English[14]. Give yourself a little time to read through their dividend policies and ownership structures, it might pay to understand this one, especially if you’ve not ever invested in a Brazilian company before.

This used to be one of two favored government-controlled oil companies that I loved, Statoil being the other, and I sold them both at around the same time. If I look past the bitterness, they both look somewhat attractive still if you consider high oil prices to be a constant, though Petrobras probably has a bit more appeal today since I remain a big believer in Brazilian growth over the long term. I don’t think it’s fair to call these guys cheap, necessarily, but they are probably overlooked by some investors.

But enough blather — I’ve got two other stocks to uncover!

Peak Oil Profit Play #2: America’s perfect alternative… a clean-burning coal[15]-to-liquid technology that packs enough punch to fuel every single truck, car, and diesel engine train in America for the next 811 years…

Here’s some more, from the horse’s mouth:

“It’s about to happen. ONE COMPANY has mastered a way to convert a plentiful North American resource into a clean-burning fuel substitute for gasoline, diesel, even jet engines… Here’s the tale of the tape on this remarkable opportunity: this company is right now selling its breakthrough fuel substitute on the open market… and last year, it made over $2 billion doing just that.

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“Are we talking Exxon Mobil, Chevron, or Shell here? Not a chance.

“Sales have grown at an annual rate of 17% over the past ten years. So how come this stock isn’t talked up on CNBC?

“Well… even though you can buy these shares in the U.S., this company is headquartered overseas — far enough away that it’s almost unknown, or at least never talked about, by mainstream U.S. investors.”

This is yet another megacap industrial state-controlled champion from the Southern Hemisphere, but the story is quite different — an energy company from a place that has very little oil and had to come up with something different. Especially since there were plenty of oil producers that even refused to sell the black gold[16] to them for political and humanitarian reasons.

So this little “something different” company must be …

Sasol (SSL)[17]

This is, as you may well know, the big oil and energy company from South Africa[18], which was essentially told by the government to figure a way to effectively make oil from coal — coal was abundant for the South Africans, but oil was not … and friends were even scarcer, save for the few firms that had a soft spot for pariah states (and their money) and brought in the occasional tanker of crude.

So Sasol worked for years to perfect a German technique for gasifying and liquefying the energy in coal, and they have done it at volumes that no one else approaches, so they’ve also been taking feelers from the other big coal-digging, oil-light countries in the world, especially China[19] and the U.S., to see if they can help.

I won’t editorialize too much, except to just note that coal-to-liquids technology has been around a while but, while the resulting fuel may be considered clean-burning, the process of creating the fuel is very dirty, indeed. Sasol does produce a lot of the energy that’s used din South Africa (and while the company is touted as the “coal to liquids” play it is a diversified energy and petrochemical company), plants are being built and/or explored in other countries with either direct participation from Sasol or licenses to their technology. And they do pay a decent dividend, and some people consider the shares to be cheap. Is coal-to-liquids or coal-to-gas the future for transportation fuel? That’s a question I can’t answer — personally, I’d be happier to see natural gas[20] take a bigger role here given it’s somewhat cleaner profile, but I’m not an expert and I don’t know all the details. Sasol appears, at least, to be large, stable, and reasonably valued … if you’ve got more to share abou the company I hope you’ll do so.

Oh, and by the way, South Africa is one of the few countries whose currency has not really appreciated against the dollar in recent years, so you’re not late to that party, at least (though the party may never get going) … and many South African mining stocks, particularly, have taken a bit of a tumble recently thanks to domestic energy problems, so perhaps there’s some potential there for Sasol … or some potential pitfalls if their coal mining operations are curtailed for lack of electricity, for example.

Have to pick up the pace a bit here … is it too much for the Gumshoe to ask that these newsletter teasers just send us one idea at a time? I’m only one man!

“Peak Oil Profit Play #3: Expertise in extracting hard-to-get-at oil and the potential to shoot up 30% in the not-too-distant future. Not to mention a dividend that’s been growing like a weed!”

So … another little excerpt for you …

“This company is one of the worldwide leaders in deep-water extraction and has a plateful of heavy-oil projects (heavy oil is the gritty gush the world is turning to as older wells are guzzled dry). In other words, this company is perfectly positioned to win big in the future of oil.

“Like the others, you can still get this company’s stock cheap if you act quickly — it’s currently priced at just 8 times earnings — and that’s along with a solid 5.1% dividend per share!

“The world faces an oil “supply crunch” after 2010 because demand will outpace the growth in production from non-OPEC countries, according to the International Energy Agency.

“So why isn’t this company talked up on CNBC? Chatted up beside the water cooler? It’s simple. This company, like the other two I just told you about, flies below Wall Street’s radar. And that’s great news for us because, like I said before, you often find the best companies in the places other investors can’t see into…”

Oh, now come on — this isn’t fair!

Why do I complain, you ask?

Because, as with Petrobras, here we are again bringing up bad memories … this is the other company I mentioned that I used to own, Statoil … though now, after a merger with the other big Norwegian oil firm Norsk Hydro, it’s …

StatoilHydro (STO)

Arg.

OK, I’m not 100% certain on this one — but they do have heavy oil experience in Norwegian waters, and they are certainly skilled deepwater drillers, since most of the pioneering work in this area was done in the extremely inhospitable North Sea. They even have a portion of the promising fields off Brazil, and have been investing around the world in recent decades because of the inevitability of the North Sea’s deceline. They do have a yield that’s about 5% as of the last payment (the dividend is annual, and was about $1.50 last Spring, the current share price is just over $30), and they do trade at a PE of about 8 according to the calculations of Yahoo[21] Finance. So this is probably them.

And to think, a couple times in the past few years I’ve come close to buying Sasol, too. This could have been three for three.

In my opinion, these are all decent plays — they’re all huge companies with long histories, so are far from being the microcap lottery tickets that we often see in these pages, they all pay decent and (generally) growing dividends, which is certainly a comfort in times like these and a wise thing to consider all the time. They are, generally for good, closely related to their home governments, they have interesting “stories” that give a good idea of how growth might continue for them, and they are certainly beneficiaries if we are at “peak oil” and unlikely to see oil prices fall.

I don’t know of significant downside problems for any of the three, other than the fact that they’ve all advanced in price along with the price of oil and may not be screaming buys as they appear based on current earnings. Do keep in mind that as Statoil and Petrobras dig deeper, and further ofshore, costs will escalate, so earnings in five or ten years might be even more leveraged to the price of oil than they are now, at least on the downside — meaning, an oil price that returns to $50 might be a significant problem (for Sasol, too, since they compete with crude oil, at least in a broad sense).

I doubt that oil will return to those levels anytime soon, or fall much at all in the next few years, but I’m sure that if you had asked me two years ago I would have doubted that we’d be well over $100 a barrel by now.

So … there you have it. Three dividend paying megacap companies in the energy space. Love ’em? Hate em? Don’t care? Share!

Endnotes:
  1. Motley Fool: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/motley-fool/
  2. Income Investor: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/income-investor/
  3. dividend investing: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/dividend-investing/
  4. James Early: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/james-early/
  5. Andy Cross: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/andy-cross/
  6. very aggressively promoted CapitalSource mortgage REIT: http://www.stockgumshoe.com/2008/03/motley-fool-flogs-one-pick-for-your-ira-weekend-thoughts.html
  7. dividends: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/dividends/
  8. Sir John Templeton: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/sir-john-templeton/
  9. water: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/water/
  10. oil: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/oil/
  11. sugar: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/sugar/
  12. ethanol: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/ethanol/
  13. Mexico: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/mexico/
  14. Petrobras does have an excellent Investor Relations website in English: http://www2.petrobras.com.br/portal/frame_ri.asp?pagina=/ri/ing/index.asp&lang=en&area=ri
  15. coal: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/coal/
  16. gold: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/gold/
  17. Sasol (SSL): https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/ssl/
  18. Africa: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/africa/
  19. China: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/china/
  20. natural gas: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/natural-gas/
  21. Yahoo: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/tag/yahoo/

Source URL: https://www.stockgumshoe.com/reviews/motley-fool-income-investor/motley-fools-peak-oil-profits-3-overlooked-energy-stocks-ready-to-run/


21 responses to “Motley Fool’s “Peak Oil Profits: 3 Overlooked Energy Stocks Ready to Run””

  1. Seve says:

    I don’t think Sasol’s coal to liquid process is all that dirty. From I recall, they use the old Fischer-Tropsch slagging gasifier. If you recall, gasification is actually a reduction reaction, not oxidation which is a loss of electrons–or burning. So besides Nox which can be scrubbed from the emissions, it is relatively clean.

    From what i remember, the then take what’s leftover which is essentially natural gas and run it over any number of catalysts. Each particular catalyst has the ability to yield a different type of outcome. Some yield benzene, some yield high grade diesel, etc.

    The “special sauce” here for Sasol is that they have have mastered the art of creating these unique catalysts that perfom the correct alchemy.

  2. farley 5 says:

    Outstanding supply & Demand for PBR. It is beating RSP and getting better, beating Oil stocks and getting better, and is above the trendline. Should hit $144 before it runs out of steam. Trading at the middle of it’s trading band. Note: Splits 2:1 5-8-08

  3. brenda says:

    Thanks for the comments. Seve, sounds like I might have been misinformed on the “dirtiness” of Fischer Tropsch as it’s used by Sasol today, thanks for telling the other side.

  4. farley 5 says:

    SSL outstanding technicals. Just broke trendline to the upside, on its way to $65

  5. spreadtrader says:

    Unless these three (PBR), (SSL), snd (STO) take out their highs during their present run up and over the summer, we could be looking at massive H&S formations in all three. That would be pretty bearish, but it could take several months (summer driving season?) to develop…..

  6. Shawn says:

    I think that coal to liquid is as dirty as you think. The original process is an anaerobic reaction that produces Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen. This is then reacted to form long chain hydrocarbons. SSL does have a gas to liquid program (Qatar) – it is experiencing some technical difficulties. The original process does produce waste CO2,but it can be sequesterd if necessary.

    The Biggest problem with the claims are that we can use this to fuel our cars. SSL only produces a couple hundred thousand barrels a day – even after 40 years of production. We need 10 million bpd. That might take 1.4 trillion dollars, 20-30 years, and who know how many unavailable sites to build the necessary refineries. Don’t worry it won’t happen.

    That being said, SSL is likely to be involved in US production for the Air Force (100KBPD), possibly china, continues to work GTL, and is a major chemicals producer worldwide.

  7. Jesse Siglow says:

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    In short, Dr. Huang has found a way to predict which days are likely to be the most profitable for traders in the coming months.
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  8. Al LeCou says:

    During my travels, I discovered a small mining company, currently trading for only around $1, that’s quietly acquired a very valuable nickel reserve inside Russian borders. More valuable, in fact, than anyone could have dreamed.

    You see, the land they’re sitting on holds a potential $15 billion worth of nickel!

    When I visited their site, tucked away in no-man’s-land inside the Arctic Circle, I took a look over their data and was amazed at the profit potential this company has.

    Estimates show that there could be as much as 700,000 lbs of nickel in their reserve.

    Now, this company’s production costs for extracting that nickel are around $7 per pound.

    With nickel currently selling for around $13 per pound, that’s a $6 profit for every pound they pull out of the ground!

    Plain and simple — these guys are looking at some downright obscene profits. And get this — the company’s geologists say that these estimates are actually on the conservative side!

    On top of that, they also own nickel and gold reserves in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan; and, if either of those properties produces anything, then we’re looking at an even bigger return.

    Market demand the likes of which we’re seeing right now can send a nickel company’s share price into the profits stratosphere.

    For example, since the commodities super cycle began a few years ago, Norilsk’s share price has soared over 2000%!

    Now, despite all these eye-popping numbers, this company is still relatively obscure in Russia and has so far managed to stay under Putin’s radar.

    That means now is the time to grab a few shares of their stock.

    I’m confident that if you get in now, while their price is as low as their profile, you can double your money by this time next year.

    And when — or if — Putin decides he wants to scoop up this company as well, you’ll be sitting pretty on some very healthy gains and will have ensured you’re protected from any of the fallout of his attempt to monopolize the nickel market.

    I’ll give you complete details on this company and why I believe it is a true “wild card” in the global nickel market in your second, FREE “Putin Protection” report, “Double Your Money With This Micro-cap Monopoly Breaker.”

  9. henry beeby says:

    sounds very interesting, Only putin could be the problem

  10. dmars says:

    Oh, this is hilarious! A couple of investment scammers posting their wares to the Stock Gumshoe! And they certainly appear to think they’ll get somewhere with it. Ha Ha!

    Actually, I was originally thinking of posting to comment on the possibility that the price of oil just might come down in the near term. Maybe not all the way back down to $50/barrel, but significantly down nonetheless.

    I am neither a political nor an investment expert, I just read a lot. But there is a growing organized sentiment in Congress that our current $100/barrel oil is artificially high, driven up by rabid commodities speculators. As I understand it there is a report circulating that analyses the true current value of oil, based on pure supply and demand economics, and their findings are that it is still worth only about $50/barrel. Of course, Congress investigates and debates a great many critical matters, but not a whole lot of substantive good seems to come from it.

    But, if the economic cost of astronomically high-priced oil starts doing enough damage, they might get off their duffs and do something about it.

    And damage that significant might be starting to happen, though it’s still too early to tell. But have you read about the truck drivers’ revolt that’s underway in several states? They’re refusing en masse to truck goods because they can’t afford enough diesel to make a living. In some areas they’re driving down freeways 3 abreast, at 20 miles an hour, so no one else can use the freeways either. Others are staging public repossessions of their trucks, which they can no longer keep up the payments on because the diesel is so expensive.

    Could be a flash-in-the-pan that is easily and quickly squelched, or it could be the start of an all out revolt against high-priced oil.

    Stay tuned.

  11. sniper says:

    You are not misinformed about the dirtiness of the CTL process (coal to liquids). I bought Rentech (RTK) which uses the Fischer-Tropsch process and researched the process they were utilizing and found that they had a lot of stumbling blocks to overcome because of the dirtiness.
    Unlike you SG, I didn’t bail out of the stock when I should have and am looking at a loss of over 50%.
    C’est la vie.

  12. bud says:

    this looks like another company disguised but really is stanbury.
    The Next Oil Boom Is Upon Us… in the Bakken Oil Field

    U.S. consumers paid out $340 billion to import 14 million barrels a day… just for 2007. And it’s only likely to get worse. We’re already paying more $3.30 for a gallon of gas on gushing pre-summer driving season oil prices.

  13. Mattrock says:

    That nickel bonanza is Finmetal Mining (FNMM)currently trading for 6 cents. Sixty bucks gets you a thousand shares. Not a big risk. there are 34 Million shares outstanding.

  14. TV Guy says:

    Hey Mattrock !!…THANK YOU for doing the Gum Show work on the nickel deal….it is obvious from the original posting of Al LeCou above, that LeCou forgot about the intention and intregity of this site…that is open sharing…not some forum for more propaganda and spin.

  15. NanooGeek says:

    While Sasol might be #2, could also possibly be Headwaters, through American Lignite Energy. Some info of interest (returns a PDF): http://www.crownminerals.govt.nz/cms/pdf-library/petroleum-conferences-1/2008-conference-proceedings/presentations/d-holt
    From 2006: http://www.utahmining.org/LiquidsandGasification.pdf

  16. mike says:

    They’ve added one to the original report and it’s now the FOUR overlooked oil stocks ready to run
    Peak Oil Profit Play #2: As higher-priced oil increases costs and strains the economy… and the crusade against CO2 emissions continues to gain momentum… a lot of people are betting on NUCLEAR POWER as the only scalable means to churn out cheap electricity and tackle climate change at the same time.

    Business 2.0 reported, “That’s one reason hedge funds and other investment firms, which wouldn’t touch uranium as recently as two years ago, have snapped up more than $1 billion worth of the radioactive stuff during the past year.”

    The nuclear investment we’re recommending is on track to build the world’s first operational Pebble Bed Reactor (PBR). This advanced design is so cutting-edge, there’s only a single active prototype — YES, only one in the world, and it’s a breakthrough!

    The company is on track to have their first commercial PBR plant up and running within the next two years. And after that, growth of the technology will astound most investors.

    There are plans for 30 of these plants by 2020… meaning this could be one of the largest nuclear power deployments in history.

    What about safety and cost issues? PBR technology substantially increases safety and also lowers costs because it…

    Uses a less volatile fuel
    Requires less infrastructure
    Increases scalability, because new reactors can be added to existing facilities
    Generates zero emissions
    And just one company in PBR technology is in the driver’s seat! Look here at what they’ve done…

    Has Increased revenue almost 22% annually for the past five years, with net income growing 18% during that same period…
    Has routinely posted margins well ahead of competitors…
    Has beat the S&P by about 50% since its IPO in 1994 and yet has a price-to-earnings ratio of only 9 today (a great value)
    Trades for a bargain 2 times book value…
    A breakthrough technology like this, coupled with profound financial strength and tremendous value, rarely occurs!

    Which means that the time to get in is now! And that’s why…

  17. brenda says:

    Hi — that nuke one sounds like HNP.

  18. David Hyers says:

    Gumshoe, I really enjoy your great insights and helps. I just received from Motley Crue “The Secret of Soaring Oil Prices” tauting 4 energy co. I believe you have covered 3 of them previously. Can you Gumshoe the nuclear co that is the 1st to build the Pebble Bed Reactor? Dave

  19. brenda says:

    Hi David — pebble bed reactor would almost certainly be HNP.

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