In the wake of the Middle East attacks, some investors are looking for havens in the market. Energy stocks are worth your consideration, and many can be scooped up at reduced prices since crude recently pulled back from $90-95 per barrel. One dividend-paying energy stock to buy is Houston’s Occidental Petroleum (OXY), says Paul Dykewicz, editor of DividendInvestor.com.
An international energy company with assets mainly in the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa, OXY is one of the largest US-based oil and gas producers. It has operations in the Permian and DJ basins, and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
Occidental Petroleum’s midstream and marketing segment provides flow assurance and maximizes the value of its oil and gas. The company’s chemical subsidiary, OxyChem, manufactures the building blocks for life-enhancing products, while its Oxy Low Carbon Ventures subsidiary is advancing technologies and business solutions to economically grow its business while reducing emissions.
As part of its green energy outreach, Occidental Petroleum seeks to advance a reduced-carbon world. BofA’s price objective of $82 per share for OXY assumes $80 Brent and $75 WTI long-term crude prices, which are below current levels. BofA also is assuming long-term Henry Hub natural gas prices of around $4.25.
Risks to reaching that price objective are reductions in prices and margins for oil and gas, significant delays to new upstream projects critical to OXY’s production targets, and any cost pressures from operating expenses, capital expenditures and taxation, BofA wrote.
Recommended Action: Buy OXY.
