Top 5 Gas Companies To Invest In Right Now

“Our master philosophy is ‘enter once, use many,’” Sheila Cuffari-Agasi says when describing the technology employed at United Planners Financial Services.

The vice president of partner development with the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based broker-dealer notes that she keeps a “small, personal” book of business to maintain a rep's perspective and a view of what they might need in the field. And what she finds is they need glue — yes, glue.

“From a technology perspective, United Planners is all about creating efficiencies through what we call the software glue, which helps various platforms integrate and work better together,” she explains. “We want to free up time for the advisor from doing all the administrative and compliance tasks so they can concentrate on marketing and spending time with clients.”

The firm's Advisor Front Office “seamlessly integrates with Pershing and TD Ameritrade’s Veo, among other custodians.”  It can pull statements, auto-archive them and even file them if needed, she notes, which is especially helpful during a regulatory audit.

Hot Retail Stocks For 2015: Hess Corporation (HES)

Hess Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an independent energy company worldwide. It operates in two segments, Exploration and Production (E&P), and Marketing and Refining (M&R). The E&P segment explores for, develops, produces, purchases, transports, and sells crude oil and natural gas. This segment conducts exploration and production activities principally in Algeria, Australia, Azerbaijan, Brunei, China, Denmark, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, France, Ghana, Indonesia, the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Norway, Peru, the Russian Federation, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The M&R segment purchases, markets, and trades in refined petroleum products, natural gas, and electricity. This segment serves motoring public, wholesale distributors, industrial and commercial users, other petroleum companies, governmental agencies, and public utilities. It also operates terminals and retail gasoline stations, which include convenience stores located on the East Coast of the United States. As of December 31, 2012, the company operated 1,361 HESS gasoline stations in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Hess Corporation was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lee Jackson]

  Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) is the second largest producer in the Bakken region. However, unlike many other operators in the region, Hess’s Bakken assets make up less than a quarter of the company’s production and reserves. Investors are paid a 1.2% dividend. The Merrill Lynch price target for the stock is $115, the highest on Wall Street. The consensus estimate is set at $91.73. Hess closed Friday at $76.25. A move to the Merrill Lynch target would be a huge 51% gain.

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Hess Corp.(HES) agreed to sell its Indonesian interests for $1.3 billion in cash to fund its share-repurchase program, the latest in the company’s plan to shed assets. The oil and gas company is selling its Pangkah and Natuna A assets — which produced a combined 15,000 barrels of oil a day in the first three quarters of this year — to Indonesian oil companies PT Pertamina (Persero) and PTT Exploration & Production Co.(PTTEP.TH)

• [By Alyce Lomax]

  Just for starters, it's got plenty of competition in this marketplace, such as energy management service providers like Comverge, Exelon (NYSE: EXC  ) , and Hess (NYSE: HES  ) , as well as energy technology companies like Lucid Design Group, Building IQ, and SCIEnergy. Utilities themselves could and sometimes do use their own demand response solutions, which also lessens the business companies like EnerNOC can gather.

Top 5 Gas Companies To Invest In Right Now: Pioneer Natural Resources Co (PXD)

Pioneer Natural Resources Company (Pioneer),incorporated on April 4, 1997, is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States and South Africa. Pioneer is a holding company whose assets consist of direct and indirect ownership interests in, and whose business is conducted substantially through, its subsidiaries. The Company sells homogenous oil, natural gas liquid (NGL) and gas units. The Company provides administrative, financial, legal and management support to United States and South Africa subsidiaries that explore for, develop and produce proved reserves. The Company�� continuing operations are principally located in the United States in the states of Texas, Kansas, Colorado and Alaska. During February 2011, the Company completed the sale of Pioneer Natural Resources Tunisia Ltd. and Pioneer Natural Resources Anaguid Ltd. In April 2012, it acquired Carmeuse Industrial Sands (CIS). In August 2012, the Company sold its South Africa business to The Petroleum Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa (SOC) Ltd. (PetroSA). Effective December 17, 2013, Pioneer Natural Resources Company and Pioneer Southwest Energy Partners L.P announced the completion of the merger of Pioneer Southwest Energy Partners L.P with a wholly owned subsidiary of Pioneer Natural Resources Company, with Pioneer Southwest Energy Partners L.P surviving the merger as an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Pioneer Natural Resources Company.

The Company has 15 owned drilling rigs operating in the Spraberry field, and as of December 31, 2011, had Company-owned fracture stimulation fleets totaling 250,000 horsepower supporting drilling operations in the Spraberry, Eagle Ford Shale and Barnett Shale Combo areas. The Company also owns other field service equipment, including pulling units, fracture stimulation tanks, water transport trucks, hot oilers, blowout preventers, construction equipment and fishing tools. The Company owns a 52.4% limited partner interest and a 0.1% ! general partner interest in Pioneer Southwest Energy Partners L.P. and its subsidiaries (Pioneer Southwest). The Company�� proved reserves totaled 1,063 million barrel of oil equivalent at December 31, 2011. Approximately 83% of the Company�� proved reserves at December 31, 2011 are located in the Spraberry field in the Permian Basin area, the Hugoton and West Panhandle fields in the Mid-Continent area and the Raton field in the Rocky Mountains area.

Permian Basin

The Spraberry field encompasses eight counties in West Texas. The field is approximately 150 miles long and 75 miles wide at its widest point. The oil produced is West Texas Intermediate Sweet, and the gas produced is casinghead gas with an average energy content of 1,400 British thermal unit. The oil and gas are produced primarily from four formations, the upper and lower Spraberry, the Dean and the Wolfcamp, at depths ranging from 6,700 feet to 11,300 feet. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company drilled 706 wells in the Spraberry field and its total acreage position approximated 820,000 gross acres (691,000 net acres). The Company has 44 rigs operating, of which 41 are drilling vertical wells and three are drilling horizontal wells. The Company completed its second horizontal well in the Upper/Middle Wolfcamp Shale in Upton County, Texas with a 30-stage fracture stimulation in a 5,800-foot lateral section. The Company is focusing its horizontal efforts on more than 200,000 acres in the southern part of the field to hold acreage. The Company continues to test down spacing in the Spraberry field from 40 acres to 20 acres. Sixteen 20-acre wells were drilled in 2011, with 10 of these wells having been placed on production. These 20-acre wells were drilled to the Lower Wolfcamp interval, with a few deepened to the Strawn interval.

Mid-Continent

The Hugoton field in southwest Kansas is a producing gas fields in the continental United States. The gas is produced from the Chase an! d Council! Grove formations at depths ranging from 2,700 feet to 3,000 feet. The Company�� Hugoton properties are located on approximately 284,000 gross acres (245,000 net acres), covering approximately 400 square miles. The Company has working interests in approximately 1,220 wells in the Hugoton field, approximately 1,000 of which it operates. The Company operates substantially all of the gathering and processing facilities, including the Satanta plant, which processes the production from the Hugoton field. In January 2011, the Company sold a 49% interest in the Satanta plant to an unaffiliated third party for the third party�� commitment to dedicate gas volumes to the Satanta plant. The Company is also exploring opportunities to process other gas production in the Hugoton area at the Satanta plant. By maintaining operatorship of the gathering and processing facilities, the Company is able to control the production, gathering, processing and sale of its Hugoton field gas and NGL production.

The West Panhandle properties are located in the panhandle region of Texas. These reserves are attributable to the Red Cave, Brown Dolomite, Granite Wash and fractured Granite formations at depths no greater than 3,500 feet. The Company�� gas has an average energy content of 1,365 British thermal unit and is produced from approximately 680 wells on more than 259,000 gross acres (252,000 net acres) covering over 375 square miles. The Company controls 100% of the wells, production equipment, gathering system and the Fain gas processing plant for the field.

Raton

The Raton Basin properties are located in the southeast portion of Colorado. The Company owns approximately 227,000 gross acres (201,000 net acres) in the center of the Raton Basin and produces CBM gas from the coal seams in the Vermejo and Raton formations from approximately 2,300 wells. The Company owns the majority of the well servicing and fracture stimulation equipment that it utilizes in the Raton field, allowing it to! control ! costs and insure availability.

South Texas Eagle Ford Shale and Edwards

The Company�� drilling activities in the South Texas area during 2011 were primarily focused on delineation and development of Pioneer�� substantial acreage position in the Eagle Ford Shale play. The Company drilled 94 horizontal Eagle Ford Shale wells during 2011, with average lateral lengths of approximately 5,500 feet and 13-stage fracture stimulations. EFS Midstream LLC (EFS Midstream) is obligated to construct midstream assets in the Eagle Ford Shale area. Eight of the 12 planned central gathering plants (CGPs) were completed as of December 31, 2011.

Barnett Shale

During 2011, the Company continued to increase its acreage position in the liquid-rich Barnett Shale Combo area in North Texas. In total, the Company has accumulated approximately 92,000 gross acres in the liquid-rich area of the field and has acquired approximately 340 square miles of three dimensional (3-D) seismic covering its acreage. The Company�� total lease holdings in the Barnett Shale play now approximate 142,000 gross acres (108,000 net acres). During 2011, the Company had two drilling rigs operating and drilled 44 Barnett Shale Combo wells. The Company also commenced operating a Company-owned fracture stimulation fleet in the area during the second quarter of 2011.

Alaska

The Company owns a 70% working interest and is the operator of the Oooguruk development project. The Company has drilled 12 production wells and eight injection wells of the estimated 17 production and 16 injection wells planned to develop this project.

International

During 2011, the Company�� international operations were located in Tunisia and offshore South Africa. During February 2011, the Company completed the sale of the Company�� share holdings in Pioneer Tunisia to an unaffiliated third party.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  So here’s the hangover after the party, as 3M (MMM) and Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) outweigh gains in U.S. Steel (X), Chico’s FAS (CHS) and Wal-Mart (WMT).

• [By Brian Stoffel]

  2. Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD  ) , P/E of 237
  Pioneer is an independent oil and natural gas company that's focusing on North America's various shale plays. It's important to understand two key variables that play an enormous role in whether Pioneer is worth your money.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  This brings me to one final point. One area of oil production many overlook is the Permian. That legacy oil play could actually be the best of the bunch thanks to the Sparberry/Wolfcamp, which just might be the second largest oil field in the world, at 50 billion barrels of oil equivalent. That's almost double the Eagle Ford's potential and more than four times that of the Bakken. One company that sees huge potential here is Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD  ) . Overall, the company believes it has the potential to capture about 9 billion barrels of oil equivalent as it drills about 40,000 wells over the coming years.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Cabot Oil & Gas have plunged 9.3% to $35.61 at 2:48 p.m. today, while Anadarko Petroleum�(APC) has declined 0.7% to $82.63, Range Resources�(RRC) has dropped 0.2.1% to $85.66 and Pioneer Natural Resources�(PXD) has fallen 1.5% to $186.84.

Top 5 Gas Companies To Invest In Right Now: Neste Oil Corp (NES1V)

Neste Oil Corp is a Finland-based company engaged in the refining and marketing of petroleum and petroleum products. The Company has two business areas and four reporting segments. The business areas are: Oil Products & Renewables and Oil Retail. The reporting segments are: Oil Products, Renewable Fuels, Oil Retail and Others. The Oil Products & Renewables area produces and sells petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, aviation and bunker fuel, heating oil, heavy fuel oil, base oil, gasoline components, specialty fuels, fuels, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and bitumen as well as renewable diesel and aviation fuel under the brand name NExBTL. The Oil Retail area operates a network of 1,136 stations in Finland, the Russian Federations, the Baltic states and Poland, selling own products as well as lubricants and chemicals. The Company owns fuel refineries and production plants in Finland, Singapore and the Netherlands. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sarah Jones]

  Neste Oil Oyj (NES1V) gained 4.8 percent to 12.04 euros. CA Cheuvreux SA upgraded Finland�� only refiner to outperform, the equivalent of a buy recommendation, from underperform, saying it expects it to report resilient first-quarter results this month.

• [By Corinne Gretler]

  Neste Oil Oyj (NES1V) declined 9.1 percent to 14.25 euros after Citigroups Inc. cut Finland�� only oil refiner to sell from neutral, citing a deterioration in key profitability drivers for both renewables and refining divisions.

Top 5 Gas Companies To Invest In Right Now: NuStar GP Holdings LLC (NSH)

NuStar GP Holdings, LLC (NuStar GP Holdings), incorporated on June 06, 2000, conducts operations through its indirect ownership interests in NuStar Energy L.P. (NuStar Energy). NuStar Energy is engaged in the terminalling and storage of petroleum products, the transportation of petroleum products and anhydrous ammonia, and petroleum refining and marketing. The Company operates in three segments: NuStar Energy�� Storage Segment, NuStar Energy�� Pipeline Segment and NuStar Energy�� Asphalt and Fuels Marketing Segment. On January 1, 2013, NuStar Energy sold the San Antonio Refinery and related assets, which included inventory, a terminal in Elmendorf, Texas and a pipeline connecting the terminal and refinery. On December 13, 2012, NuStar Energy completed its acquisition of the TexStar Crude Oil Assets (as defined below), including 100% of the partnership interest in TexStar Crude Oil Pipeline, LP, from TexStar Midstream Services, LP and certain of its affiliates.

NuStar Energy has terminal and storage facilities in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, including St. Eustatius in the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and Turkey. NuStar Energy L.P.'s asphalt refineries, refined product terminals, petroleum and specialty liquids storage and terminaling operations, and crude oil storage tank facilities are predominantly located on waterways that are easily accessible by barge or vessel. On September 28, 2012, NuStar Energy sold a 50% ownership interest (the Asphalt Sale) in NuStar Asphalt LLC (Asphalt JV), previously a wholly owned subsidiary of NuStar Energy, to an affiliate of Lindsay Goldberg LLC (Lindsay Goldberg), a private investment firm.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  But it is important to note that ETE also has interests in Sunoco Logistics Partners (NYSE: SXL) and Regency Energy Partners (NYSE: RGP).

  Finally, consider NuStar Energy (NYSE: NS) and its general partner NuStar GP Holdings (NYSE: NSH). Like ETE, NSH went public in 2006 and has also significantly outperformed its limited partner since:
  
  
  

  The vast majority of partnerships don’t have a publicly-traded GP. But in each of these three cases in which the GP is publicly traded, the GP tends to outperform the LP units on long-term gains, an advantage somewhat offset by the typically higher LP yield.