Based on key financial metrics such as the price-to-sales ratio, shareholder yield and the price-earnings ratio, the following 7 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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7 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 7 undervalued stocks in the Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production industry for Monday, October 23, 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.

Battalion Oil Corp’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Battalion Oil Corporation is an independent energy company. The Company is engaged in the acquisition, production, exploration and development of onshore oil and natural gas properties in the United States. The Company?s principal properties consist of leasehold interests in developed and undeveloped oil and natural gas properties and the reserves associated with these properties. The Company owns interests in developed and undeveloped oil and natural gas acreage in Texas locations. The Company?s working interests in approximately 40,375 net acres in the Delaware Basin in Pecos, Reeves, Ward and Winkler Counties, Texas. The Company has approximately 103 operated wells producing in this area in addition to minor working interests in 13 non-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.

Battalion Oil Corp has a Value Score of 96, which is considered to be undervalued.

When you look at Battalion Oil Corp’s price-to-sales ratio at 0.34 compared to the industry median at 1.90, this company has a lower price relative to revenue compared to its peers. This could make Battalion Oil Corp’s stock more attractive for value investors.

Battalion Oil Corp’s price-earnings ratio is 0.87 compared to the industry median at 5.73. This means it has a lower share price relative to earnings compared to its peers. This could make Battalion Oil Corp more attractive for value investors.

Now, let’s assess Battalion Oil Corp’s EV/EBITDA ratio, also known as enterprise multiple. At 2.2, 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. Battalion Oil Corp’s shareholder yield is lower than its industry median ratio of 1.27%. 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. Battalion Oil Corp’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 1.47. This could make Battalion Oil Corp more attractive to investors looking for a new addition to their portfolio.

Lastly, let’s take a look at Battalion Oil Corp’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio (P/FCF), which can indicate a company’s market value relative to its operating cash flow. Battalion Oil Corp’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 6.48. This could make Battalion Oil Corp more attractive because the lower P/FCF ratio indicates that Battalion Oil Corp 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.

Gran Tierra Energy Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Gran Tierra Energy Inc. is an independent international energy company. The Company is focused on international oil and natural gas exploration and production with assets in Colombia and Ecuador. The Company has interests in approximately 22 blocks in Colombia, three blocks in Ecuador, and is the operator of 24 of these blocks. Its assets in Colombia represent approximately 99% of its production with oil reserves and production mainly located in the Middle Magdalena Valley (MMV) and Putumayo Basin. In MMV, the Company’s field is the Acordionero field, where it produces approximately 17-degree American Petroleum Institute (API) oil, which represents 52% of total company production. The Putumayo production is approximately 27-degree API for Chaza Block and 18-degree API for Suoriente Block, representing 25% and 14% respectively, of total company production.

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.

Gran Tierra Energy Inc has a Value Score of 99, which is considered to be undervalued.

Gran Tierra Energy Inc’s price-earnings ratio is 4.8 compared to the industry median at 5.7. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Gran Tierra Energy Inc more attractive for value investors.

Gran Tierra Energy Inc’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Gran Tierra Energy Inc less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.47.

You can read more about Gran Tierra Energy Inc’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.

Matador Resources Co’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Matador Resources Company is an independent energy company. The Company is engaged in the exploration, development, production and acquisition of oil and natural gas resources in the United States, with an emphasis on oil and natural gas shale and other unconventional plays. The Company operates through two business segments: exploration and production and midstream. The exploration and production segment is engaged in the exploration, development, production and acquisition of oil and natural gas resources in the United States and is focused primarily on the oil and liquids-rich portion of the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring plays in the Delaware Basin in Southeast New Mexico and West Texas. The midstream segment conducts midstream operations in support of its exploration, development and production operations and provides natural gas processing, oil transportation services, oil, natural gas and produced water gathering services and produced water disposal services to third parties.

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.

Matador Resources Co has a Value Score of 66, which is considered to be undervalued.

Matador Resources Co’s price-earnings ratio is 8.5 compared to the industry median at 5.7. This means that it has a higher price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Matador Resources Co less attractive for value investors.

Matador Resources Co’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its peers. This could make Matador Resources Co more attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.47.

You can read more about Matador Resources Co’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.

Murphy Oil Corp’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Murphy Oil Corporation is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. The Company is engaged in both onshore and offshore operations and properties. The Company’s geographic segments include the United States, Canada, and all other countries. It produces crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids primarily in the United States and Canada and explores for crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids in targeted areas worldwide. In the United States, it produces crude oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas primarily from fields in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Eagle Ford Shale area of South Texas. It holds approximately 133 thousand gross acres in South Texas in the Eagle Ford Shale unconventional oil and natural gas play. In Canada, it holds working interests in Tupper Montney (100% owned), Kaybob Duvernay, and two non-operated offshore assets, such as the Hibernia and Terra Nova fields, located offshore Newfoundland in the Jeanne d’Arc Basin.

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.

Murphy Oil Corp has a Value Score of 76, which is considered to be undervalued.

Murphy Oil Corp’s price-earnings ratio is 7.3 compared to the industry median at 5.7. This means that it has a higher price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Murphy Oil Corp less attractive for value investors.

Murphy Oil Corp’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Murphy Oil Corp less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.47.

You can read more about Murphy Oil 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.

Strata Power Corp’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Strata Power Corporation is a Canada-based company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of heavy oil projects in the Peace River oil sands region in Northern Alberta, Canada (the Peace River Properties). The Peace River Properties are located in the Peace River oil sands region in Alberta approximately 40 to 50 kilometers away from the town of Peace River. The Company has a partial interest in 7 oil sands leases, totaling 8,704 hectares, all located in the Peace River oil sands area. In addition, the Company has a royalty interest in 10 oil sands leases and owns one non-producing well.

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.

Strata Power Corp has a Value Score of 88, which is considered to be undervalued.

Strata Power Corp’s price-earnings ratio is 1.3 compared to the industry median at 5.7. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Strata Power Corp more attractive for value investors.

You can read more about Strata Power 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.

Unit Corp’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Unit Corporation is a natural gas contract drilling company. The Company is primarily engaged in the development, acquisition, and production of oil and natural gas properties, the land contract drilling of natural gas and oil wells, and the buying, selling, gathering, processing, and treating of natural gas. The Company operates through three segments: Oil and Natural Gas, Contract Drilling, and Mid-Stream. The Oil and Natural Gas segment explores, develops, acquires, and produces oil and natural gas properties for its own account. The Contract Drilling segment contracts to drill onshore oil and natural gas wells for others and for its own account. The Mid-Stream segment buys, sells, gathers, processes, and treats natural gas for third parties and for its own account. The Company?s producing oil and natural gas properties, unproved properties, and related assets are primarily located in Oklahoma and Texas, in addition to Arkansas, Kansas, and North Dakota to a lesser extent.

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.

Unit Corp has a Value Score of 96, which is considered to be undervalued.

Unit Corp’s price-earnings ratio is 2.0 compared to the industry median at 5.7. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Unit Corp more attractive for value investors.

Unit Corp’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Unit Corp less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.47.

You can read more about Unit 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.

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 65, which is considered to be undervalued.

Viper Energy Partners LP’s price-earnings ratio is 13.1 compared to the industry median at 5.7. 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 1.47.

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 7 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.

• Battalion Oil Corp stock has a Value Grade of A.
• Gran Tierra Energy Inc stock has a Value Grade of A.
• Matador Resources Co stock has a Value Grade of B.
• Murphy Oil Corp stock has a Value Grade of B.
• Strata Power Corp stock has a Value Grade of A.
• Unit Corp stock has a Value Grade of A.
• Viper Energy Partners LP stock has a Value Grade of B.

Now that you have a bit more background about each of the 7 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.

• 7 Undervalued Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks for Monday, October 23
• Which Is a Better Investment, Talos Energy Inc or Vista Energy SAB de CV - ADR Stock?
• 6 Undervalued Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks for Friday, October 20
• 6 Undervalued Oil & Gas - Exploration and Production Stocks for Thursday, October 19

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