Exxon Mobil (XOM)

Near-term, he's cautious about the energy sector. XOM has a broad base of assets and pays a high 8% dividend, but is underperforming the S&P. XOM has been struggling as a stock. He prefers a company outperforming peers, such as CNQ. CNQ pays a 6.5% dividend.

A play on global oil. The coronavirus has taken out 20% demand because of China, but there will be a bounce-back in oil. Global oil has been a tough slog for the last 5 years. You can probably buy it and collect a nice dividend, but BP has a better payout. Don't expect much capital appreciation.

Conventional offshore exploration has been very successful for them. If the price of oil backs off it will go back to the low $70s. The question is if they can grow the business. It is flat over 10 years. The success in Guiana is waking the company up, however.

Used to own it. He stays away from the larger integrated oil companies. He prefers the refineries in the energy space. Long term is probably going to be OK. The fact that is trading below the 200-day moving average stops them from buying it. The advance in technology in taking oil out of the ground might affect the price of oil. Not really excited about the name.

The chart is in a down channel and is re-visiting recent lows – normally a signal for lower prices to come. He does not feel the bottom has been established yet.

From a technical perspective, the stock looks bad. It has had a big fall-off. Going from $88 to $76 is a big drop for a stock like this. There is some buying support, the yield is not bad, but he would recommend caution and a tight stop, perhaps $72 and would not expect a near-term rise higher than $78. There is probably going to be a period of consolidation.

(A Top Pick Feb 6/17 Down 3%). He thinks this is one of the best ranked companies in the world. A great company, but he thinks the market may be moving away from carbon-based companies. This may be a value trap and could be time to look elsewhere.

XLE-N vs. XOM-N. XLE-N is the US ETF on energy and is primarily 22% XOM-T. He sees very little growth going forward in XOM-N. He thinks there are better plays in the energy sector. He would be willing to gamble more on Canadian names that are so depressed in price. See Top Picks today.

He likes what oil has been doing and sees XOM as a special case. XOM has been in a downtrend, then broke out, then reported earnings which disappointed some. The chart is sideways-looking and choppy. The stock could get back to its old lows in the mid-70’s.