Based on key financial metrics such as the price-to-sales ratio, shareholder yield and the price-earnings ratio, the following 6 stocks made the list for top value stocks in the Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production industry. Those looking for value stocks to add to their portfolio may want to use this list as a starting point for further investment research.

Latest Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stock News

Before choosing which top Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production stock to buy, be sure to conduct proper due diligence: analyze various financial metrics and look at historical data, public statements and news coverage.

The outlook for the oil and gas exploration and production sub-industry is mostly favorable for the foreseeable future. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a major oil shock occurred in 2020. Since then, crude oil prices have begun to recover, currently priced at around $60 per barrel as a result of persistent supply cuts by the OPEC-Plus Consortium. While the demand perspective remains uncertain, from a supply perspective, both OPEC and non-OPEC participants have a conservative production outlook in 2021. The most significant unknown factor is the potential lifting of Iran sanctions by the Biden administration and its impact. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), oil demand is expected to increase by about 5.4 mmb/d, to 96.4 mmb/d in 2021. While this appears to be a strong year-over-year increase, it is well in line with the 2019 demand of around 100 mmb/d, signifying only a 60% recovery from the pandemic. In May 2021, the EIA forecasted WTI crude oil prices as $59 dollars per barrel in 2021 and $57 per barrel in 2022. At these price points, exploration and production operations are expected to generate significant free cashflow.

Why Focus on Undervalued Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks?

Value investors seek to buy stocks at a discount to their intrinsic value. Long-term returns show that such strategies are advantageous. Value stocks, as a group, tend to outperform growth stocks over extended periods of time. Typically, value investors perform financial analysis of numerous metrics, don’t follow the herd and are long-term investors.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade is derived from a stock’s Value Score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

What Goes Into AAII’s Value Grade?

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data as well as the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movement. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors with that task.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A–F grades for more than just value. It is possible for a stock to appear cheap based on one valuation metric but appear expensive on another. It is also possible for one valuation ratio to be associated with outperforming stocks during certain periods of time but not others. Some stocks may even have null values for certain metrics like the price-earnings ratio or the price-to-book ratio but not others. An example of this would be a company with losses instead of profits or a negative book value because of heavy borrowing. Negative earnings or book value result in non-meaningful ratios that are left blank or null.

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6 Undervalued Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks

Of course, there are countless value stocks that are worth mentioning, but this is a concise list of the top 6 undervalued stocks in the Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production industry for Friday, October 13, 2023. Let’s take a closer look at their individual scores to see how they measure up against each other and the Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production industry median.

The Value Grade is assigned based on how each stock’s composite valuation compares to all other stocks.

The process for assigning grades starts with each variable for a given stock. The percentile rankings for all valid ratios that a stock has are calculated. So, for instance, a stock could have a price-to-book ranking in the 43rd percentile, a price-earnings ranking in the 67th percentile, a price-to-sales ranking in the 23rd percentile, etc. Then, those rankings are averaged for each stock. (A minimum of two valid variables are required, though all six will be used if available.)

Once the average of the individual variables is calculated, that average is ranked against all stocks. Put another way, each stock’s composite valuation is compared to all other stocks. These ranks are then sorted into quintiles from the cheapest 20% (a grade of A) to the most expensive 20% (a grade of F).

As always, we recommend that you conduct proper due diligence and research before investing in any security. We also suggest that investors utilize numerous grades, not just value, when it comes to deciding whether a company is a good fit for their allocation needs.

Advantage Energy Ltd’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Advantage Energy Ltd. is a Canada-based energy producer. The Company is focused on development and delineation of its world class Montney natural gas and liquids resource at Glacier, Wembley/Pipestone, Valhalla and Progress, Alberta. The Company’s Montney assets are located from approximately 4-80 kilometers (km) northwest of the city of Grande Prairie, Alberta. Its land holdings consist of 228 net sections (145,920 net acres) of liquids-rich Montney lands at Glacier, Valhalla, Progress and Pipestone/Wembley.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Advantage Energy Ltd has a Value Score of 91, which is considered to be undervalued.

When you look at Advantage Energy Ltd’s price-to-sales ratio at 1.80 compared to the industry median at 1.82, this company has a lower price relative to revenue compared to its peers. This could make Advantage Energy Ltd’s stock more attractive for value investors.

Advantage Energy Ltd’s price-earnings ratio is 7.07 compared to the industry median at 6.04. This means it has a higher share price relative to earnings compared to its peers. This could make Advantage Energy Ltd less attractive for value investors.

Now, let’s assess Advantage Energy Ltd’s EV/EBITDA ratio, also known as enterprise multiple. At 3.0, when compared to the industry median of 3.4, the company may be considered undervalued in relation to its peers. Value investors could use the enterprise multiple to identify stocks that are considered overvalued or undervalued relative to their industry.

Shareholder yield is the sum of a stock’s dividend yield (paid over previous 12 months minus special dividends) and the percentage of net share buybacks over the previous 12 months. Advantage Energy Ltd’s shareholder yield is higher than its industry median ratio of 1.33%. Value investors may look for an attractive shareholder yield because it can be a powerful tool for identifying if the company has a good management team.

As one of the most common value metrics, the price-to-book ratio evaluates a company’s current market price relative to its book value. Advantage Energy Ltd’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 1.40. This could make Advantage Energy Ltd more attractive to investors looking for a new addition to their portfolio.

Lastly, let’s take a look at Advantage Energy Ltd’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio (P/FCF), which can indicate a company’s market value relative to its operating cash flow. Advantage Energy Ltd’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio is higher than its industry median ratio of 6.32. This could make Advantage Energy Ltd less attractive because the higher P/FCF ratio indicates that Advantage Energy Ltd is undervalued. The P/FCF ratio metric can also be viewed over a long-term time frame to see if the company's cash flow to share price value is generally improving or worsening.

Chesapeake Energy Corp’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Chesapeake Energy Corporation is an independent exploration and production company. It is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of properties to produce oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs) from underground reservoirs. It owns a diverse portfolio of onshore United States unconventional natural gas and liquids assets, including interests in approximately 8,400 gross oil and natural gas wells. Its natural gas resource plays are Marcellus Shale in the northern Appalachian Basin in Pennsylvania (Marcellus) and the Haynesville/Bossier Shales in northwestern Louisiana and the liquids-rich resource play in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas (Eagle Ford). Its marketing operations include oil, natural gas and NGL marketing services, including commodity price structuring, negotiating of gathering, hauling, processing and transportation services, and contract administration and nomination services for Company and other interest owners in Chesapeake-operated wells.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Chesapeake Energy Corp has a Value Score of 84, which is considered to be undervalued.

Chesapeake Energy Corp’s price-earnings ratio is 2.1 compared to the industry median at 6.0. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Chesapeake Energy Corp more attractive for value investors.

Chesapeake Energy Corp’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Chesapeake Energy Corp less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.40.

You can read more about Chesapeake Energy Corp’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Evolution Petroleum Corp’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Evolution Petroleum Corporation is an independent energy company. The Company is focused on ownership of and investment in onshore oil and natural gas properties in the United States. Its oil and natural gas properties consist of non-operated interests in the non-operated interests in the Jonah Field in Sublette County, Wyoming, a natural gas producing field; non-operated interests in the Williston Basin in North Dakota, a producing oil and natural gas property; non-operated interests in the Barnett Shale located in North Texas, a natural gas producing property; non-operated interests in the Hamilton Dome Field located in Hot Springs County, Wyoming, a secondary recovery field utilizing water injection wells to pressurize the reservoir; non-operated interests in the Delhi Holt-Bryant Unit in the Delhi Field in Northeast Louisiana, a CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project; and small overriding royalty interests in four onshore central Texas wells.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Evolution Petroleum Corp has a Value Score of 85, which is considered to be undervalued.

Evolution Petroleum Corp’s price-earnings ratio is 6.0 compared to the industry median at 6.0. This means that it has a higher price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Evolution Petroleum Corp fairly attractive for value investors.

Evolution Petroleum Corp’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its peers. This could make Evolution Petroleum Corp more attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.40.

You can read more about Evolution Petroleum Corp’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Occidental Petroleum Corp’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Occidental Petroleum Corporation is an international energy company with assets primarily in the United States, the Middle East and North Africa. The Company operates through three segments: oil and gas, chemical and midstream and marketing. The oil and gas segment explores for, develops and produces oil, which includes condensate, natural gas liquids (NGL) and natural gas. The chemical segment primarily manufactures and markets basic chemicals and vinyl?s. The midstream and marketing segment purchases, markets, gathers, processes, transports, and stores oil, NGL, natural gas, carbon dioxide (CO2) and power. Midstream and marketing segment also includes Occidental?s low-carbon venture businesses (OLCV). OLCV develops carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) projects, including the commercialization of DAC technology, and invests in other low-carbon technologies intended to reduce GHG emissions from its operations and partners with other industries to help reduce their emissions.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Occidental Petroleum Corp has a Value Score of 70, which is considered to be undervalued.

Occidental Petroleum Corp’s price-earnings ratio is 10.7 compared to the industry median at 6.0. This means that it has a higher price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Occidental Petroleum Corp less attractive for value investors.

Occidental Petroleum Corp’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its peers. This could make Occidental Petroleum Corp more attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.40.

You can read more about Occidental Petroleum Corp’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

San Juan Basin Royalty Trust’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

San Juan Basin Royalty Trust (the Trust) is an express trust. The principal asset of the Trust is the Royalty, which consists of a 75% net overriding royalty interest that burdens the Subject Interests located in the San Juan Basin. PNC Bank acts as the trustee of the Trust. The primary function of the Trustee is to collect the Royalty Income, to pay all expenses and charges of the Trust and to distribute the remaining available income to the Unit Holders. The Trust is a widely held fixed investment trust (WHFIT) classified as a non-mortgage widely held fixed investment trust (NMWHFIT). The Trust?s reserves consisted of natural gas reserves, and proceeds from the subject interests, which were attributable to the production and sale of natural gas by Hilcorp, as well as other proceeds.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

San Juan Basin Royalty Trust has a Value Score of 67, which is considered to be undervalued.

San Juan Basin Royalty Trust’s price-earnings ratio is 3.7 compared to the industry median at 6.0. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes San Juan Basin Royalty Trust more attractive for value investors.

San Juan Basin Royalty Trust’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its peers. This could make San Juan Basin Royalty Trust more attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.40.

You can read more about San Juan Basin Royalty Trust’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Viper Energy Partners LP’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Viper Energy Partners LP owns, acquires, and exploits oil and natural gas properties in North America. The Company is focused on owning and acquiring mineral and royalty interests in oil-weighted basins, primarily the Permian Basin. The Permian Basin consists of approximately 75,000 square miles centered around Midland, Texas. The Company?s assets consist of mineral and royalty interests underlying 775,180 gross acres and 26,315 net royalty acres in the Permian Basin. The estimated proved oil and natural gas reserves of its assets are approximately 148,900 thousand barrels of crude oil equivalent (MBOE). Of these reserves, approximately 72% were classified as proved developed producing reserves. The Company's proved undeveloped reserves include approximately 525 gross horizontal well locations. Its proved reserves include approximately 53% oil, 23% natural gas liquids and 24% natural gas.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Viper Energy Partners LP has a Value Score of 68, which is considered to be undervalued.

Viper Energy Partners LP’s price-earnings ratio is 12.7 compared to the industry median at 6.0. This means that it has a higher price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Viper Energy Partners LP less attractive for value investors.

Viper Energy Partners LP’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its peers. This could make Viper Energy Partners LP more attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.40.

You can read more about Viper Energy Partners LP’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Other Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stock Grades

Value is just one of the five Stock Grades included in our A+ Investor service. AAII members can see the top-graded stocks—those with grades of A or B for value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality—on the A+ Stock Grades Screener.

Also, if you want full access to all of AAII’s premium services, you can subscribe to one convenient bundled plan called AAII Platinum where you can try out A+ Investor, AAII Dividend Investing, the Stock Superstars Report, Growth Investing and VMQ Stocks. With the other premium services, you can dive deep into additional metrics, portfolios, commentary and information about Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production stocks as well as other industrys.

Choosing Which of the 6 Best Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks Is Right for You

Choosing which value stocks to invest in will ultimately depend on your individual goals and allocation; however, comparing similar value stocks in the same industry can help you analyze which might be better investments for you in the long run. So, let’s take a look at the Value Grade for all of our stocks.

• Advantage Energy Ltd stock has a Value Grade of A.
• Chesapeake Energy Corp stock has a Value Grade of A.
• Evolution Petroleum Corp stock has a Value Grade of A.
• Occidental Petroleum Corp stock has a Value Grade of B.
• San Juan Basin Royalty Trust stock has a Value Grade of B.
• Viper Energy Partners LP stock has a Value Grade of B.

Now that you have a bit more background about each of the 6 undervalued stocks in the Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production industry as well as their overall grades, it’s time for you to conduct additional research to see if these could fit your portfolio needs based on your goals and risk tolerance. AAII can help you figure out both and identify which investments align with what works best for you.

We do so through a program of education that teaches you to invest for yourself and become an effective manager of your own wealth—no more relying on others for your financial independence. You can rely on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis that makes you a better investor.

A+ Investor adds to that qualitative teaching by giving you a powerful data suite that helps you whittle down investment decisions to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

Additional Resources About Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks

Want to learn more about Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production stocks to see if they could be the right investment for you? Check out some additional resources and articles to help you on your financial journey.

• 6 Undervalued Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks for Friday, October 13
• Is Vista Energy SAB de CV - ADR (VIST) Stock a Good Investment?
• Which Is a Better Investment, Antero Resources Corp or Vista Energy SAB de CV - ADR Stock?
• Which Is a Better Investment, Baytex Energy Corp or Vista Energy SAB de CV - ADR Stock?

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