Will Samson Oil & Gas Strike It Rich This Year?

With half of 2012 in the record books, it's important to take a look at whether the stocks that interest you can live up to their full potential. By making sure you know about a company's future plans and possible challenges, you can make a better decision about whether it's a smart investment for your portfolio.

Today, let's take a look at Samson Oil & Gas (NYSE: SSN). As we saw in our look at Samson Oil & Gas last month, the small exploration and production company has had a terrible year so far in 2012. With plenty of potential, can the company rebound from its losses? Let's take a quick look at Samson's prospects for the rest of the year and beyond.

Stats on Samson Oil & Gas

Source: S&P Capital IQ.

Will Samson Oil & Gas rebound?
In understanding Samson's prospects, it's important to separate industrywide trends from company-specific issues. Overall, the entire energy industry has felt the impact of falling oil prices in the past several months, as fears about a global slowdown and its potential impact on energy demand weigh on oil and gas stocks.

Those industrywide concerns definitely have a sizable effect on big companies like Samson's Niobrara neighbors Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) and Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN). Moreover, as Bakken competitors Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR) and EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) have had increasing success, they too become more affected by big-picture issues. However, at least for now, Samson is small enough that macroeconomic issues take a backseat to the specifics of its projects.

The real key for Samson, then, is whether it can succeed operationally. Just yesterday, the company issued new guidance, saying that a key fracking operation at its Spirit of America 2 well in Hawk Springs will be going on for about 48 hours, after which data on flow rates will provide vital information about how successful the prospect may be. Meanwhile, at its Defender well, Samson is waiting for the Spirit of America fracking operations to be done before working over pumps and clearing the well of potential sand or debris.

All that uncertainty shows just how speculative Samson is right now. But if things go well, the company could know a whole lot more about its true prospects very soon.

If you like prospects for energy, let us show you another stock you should look at more closely. Read about it right here in the Motley Fool's special free report on the energy industry and its best prospects.

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