5-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Energen

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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.