Thanksgiving might be over, but the hunt for deep discounts has just begun! See all of our Foolish picks for Bargain Stocks for Black Friday.
Let's face it. A world without oil would be like a Thanksgiving dinner without gravy. Frightening thoughts, both.
Given that Petrobras (NYSE: PBR ) is sitting on one of the largest untapped petroleum prizes known on Earth, you'd think that this stock would sit at the head of the table. Nevertheless, at roughly 70% off its 52-week high, the company's shares have been carved like a well-roasted turkey. How low can stocks go, anyway?
It's fairly clear that the global economy is quivering like Aunt Agnes' fruit-and-gelatin torte. But as shaky as the system may seem, Petrobras is still being marked down more drastically than the pair of loafers I just picked up at the liquidating shoe store down the street.
Let's talk turkey. Petrobras keeps digging into the basins off Brazil's shores and finding billions of barrels of black gold. Just the other day, the firm announced another find off the coast of Espirito Santo, estimated at 1.5 billion to 2 billion recoverable barrels of oil equivalent. All told, the region is estimated to hold something on the order of 80 billion barrels.
Fools, I do not exaggerate when I speak of a bonanza for servicers like Noble (NYSE: NE ) , Transocean (NYSE: RIG ) , and Halliburton (NYSE: HAL ) . E&Ps like Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC ) and Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN ) , both of which have active exploration programs in Brazil, also stand to profit. But the main beneficiary is Petrobras, and by extension, the Brazilian economy. After all, Petrobras is the biggest company/taxpayer in the country.
So what's Mr. Market so afraid of? Well, there's a real possibility that, at $50 oil, much of this deepwater bounty is uneconomic to produce in the near term. Similar concerns weigh on oil-sands sluggers like Suncor (NYSE: SU ) .
You know what? That's fine with me. It's not like the company could turn on the taps tomorrow, even if they wanted to. The value of Petrobras, like any business, lies in the decades-long stream of cash flows that the firm can produce for its shareholders. If you think this company will have a crummy next couple of quarters, I wouldn't necessarily argue with you. Today's price, though, would seem to cast some doubt on whether Petrobras will ever get around to turning these world-class reserves into piles of cash.
If you agree that investors should be giving thanks for this opportunity to buy Petrobras at these Black Friday prices, make the pilgrimage over to Motley Fool CAPS and join me in rating the firm to outperform right here.
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