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5-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Energen

Based on the aggregated intelligence of the 125,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, oil and gas producer Energen (NYSE: EGN  ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Energen's business, and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Energen facts

Headquarters (founded)

Birmingham, Ala. (1929)

Market Cap

$2.09 billion

Industry

Gas utilities

TTM Revenue

$1.51 billion

Management

Chairman/CEO James McManus, II
CFO Charles Porter, Jr.

Return on Equity (average, last three years)

24.3%

Dividend Yield

1.6%

Competitors

Denbury Resources (NYSE: DNR  )
Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK  )

CAPS members bullish on EGN also bullish on:

Vale (NYSE: RIO  )
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ  )

CAPS members bearish on EGN also bearish on:

Total (NYSE: TOT  )
Questar (NYSE: STR  )

Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's), and Motley Fool CAPS. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Over on CAPS, 239 of the 247 members who have rated Energen -- or 97% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include CAPS All-Stars dcstrade and sweetjames.

Late last month, dcstrade tapped Energen as a play on three interesting investment themes: "Magic Formula, dollar has rallied but won't be sustained, Energy = Inflation hedge."

In a pitch from two weeks ago, sweetjames highlights Energen's natural advantages:

I like Energen because its a safe bet with Natural Gas in the long run. We have tons of it, and Energen owns everything from their own production to the pipelines to the power plants.

Unfortunately, recent drops in Natural Gas prices are due to both oversupply, and unforeseen drops in demand (at least to me). ... A lot of these manufacturing facilities require large amounts of natural gas, and without them, the demand is killed. Fortunately for Energen, they are a utility with a large customer base which is mainly residential in nature. This will allow them to stay in business, however the real profits come when Natural Gas spot price at the wellhead moves back up.

What do you think about Energen, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. More than 125,000 investors are waiting to hear what you have to say. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.

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Fool contributor Brian Pacampara owns no position in any of the companies mentioned. Chesapeake is a Motley Fool Inside Value pick. Johnson & Johnson and Total are selections of Income Investor. The Fool's disclosure policy always gets a perfect score.


Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

  • Report this Comment On January 30, 2009, at 12:00 PM, pondee619 wrote:

    "Energen (NYSE: EGN) has earned a coveted five-star ranking" and had been losing to the market, as measured by the S&P for the past year (while it has been a 4& 5 star stock). It is "poised to pop"? No reason is given, other than its "coveted" ranking.

    Those who have been following my series, know that five star stocks are less likely to beat the market or any other group. Yet, Brian keeps singing blindly the praises of the collective intellegence of the fool community.

    I guess the foolishness will never end. Quanity over quality.

  • Report this Comment On January 30, 2009, at 12:23 PM, OrigTurboDave wrote:

    At least its not Allied Capital or CapitalSource.

    Poised to Pop ?? More like poised to BUST !

  • Report this Comment On January 30, 2009, at 12:25 PM, OrigTurboDave wrote:

    Oops, at least Energen has a more consistent history that some other "poised to pop's".

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