3 Banks That Are Rockin' the Bakken

By Jay Jenkins – Oct 7, 2013 at 1:29PM

NYSE: WFC

Wells Fargo

Market Cap

$215B

Today's Change

(-0.43%) -$0.26

Current Price

$60.34

Price as of April 25, 2024, 10:43 a.m. ET

Looking for investment opportunities in the Bakken oil fields without having to set up an oil rig of your own? Consider these banks as a way to capture the boom without getting oil in your boots.

In the 2007 movie There Will Be Blood, main character Daniel Plainview repeatedly calls himself an oil man:

"I do my own drilling and the men that work for me, work for me and they are men I know. I make it my business to be there and see to their work. I don't lose my tools in the hole and spend months fishing for them; I don't botch the cementing off and let water in the hole and ruin the whole lease. I'm a family man -- I run a family business."

Fools, I'm not an oil man, and I don't have any idea how to set up a fracking operation. But I have a way to invest in the booming oil economy of North Dakota despite this shortcoming.

In the video below, I explain how a strategic investment in regional banks in North Dakota, from Wells Fargo (WFC -0.43%) to U.S. Bancorp (USB -2.27%) and potentially even smaller community banks, can be exactly the tactic you're looking for to invest in the boom without understanding the nuance of drilling a well.

Fool contributor Jay Jenkins has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool owns shares of Wells Fargo. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.