5-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: ATP Oil & Gas

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Based on the aggregated intelligence of 135,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, small-cap oil and natural gas producer ATP Oil & Gas (Nasdaq: ATPG) which provides natural gas as an alter has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

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

ATP facts

Headquarters (founded)	Houston, Tex. (1991)
Market Cap	$249.24 million
Industry	Independent Oil and Gas
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$426.14 million
Management	Founder/CEO Paul Bulmahn CFO Albert Reese, Jr.
Return on Equity (average, last three years)	24.4%
Competitors	Stone Energy (NYSE: SGY) Forest Oil
CAPS Members Bullish on ATPG Also Bullish on	Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) Transocean (NYSE: RIG) General Electric (NYSE: GE)
CAPS Members Bearish on ATPG Also Bearish on	Citigroup (NYSE: C) DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS)

Sources: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's, and Motley Fool CAPS.

Over on CAPS, fully 538 of the 563 members who have rated ATP -- some 96% -- believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include All-Stars randomvariable and TSIF, both of whom are ranked in the top 2% of our community.

Just last week, randomvariable summed up the stock's bull case simply: "Great price, low P/E. They should be able to survive their debt load and recover value."

In a more detailed pitch from last month, TSIF expands on ATP as an attractive asset play:

Debt is bad when credit is tight. Okay, I get that. ATP Oil and Gas does have a lot of debt, but they have very good resources that go along with the debt. … Their assets are easily broken off and sold if needed. Management believes their debt to cash flow is sustainable and so do I, but feeling their stock is undervalued they are selling some assets. Their revenue for last quarter looks weak because they were transitioning some wells. With two new wells on line and others in process, ATP stands to gain because other companies are cutting back capex due to the low oil/gas prices. Eventually supply and demand will tilt in ATP's favor. IN the short run, their wells are some of the more expensive to maintain and transfer the fuel. If oil were to stay sub $50 then profit would be difficult, but I feel this is sufficiently unlikely that I put some real coin in ATP's meters.

What do you think about ATP, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. More than 135,000 investors are waiting to hear what you have to say. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.