Does The World Really Need Another Video Game, Social Networking Website Or Plush Toy?
by John Tidwell
June 17, 2008
To savvy investors aware of the times we live in that question is rhetorical. With volatility sliding in the wrong direction (in the United States), invest in companies that create real solutions that improve people's lives by leveraging technology. Seek out companies that produce alternative sources of energy and help the U.S. become energy independent? But innovation in the oil industry doesn't just mean "alternative". It also means "exploration and discovery" of untapped sources. Here's a list of stocks exploring undiscovered sources of oil and whose future prospects look positive.
RAM Energy Resources (NasdaqCM: RAME) - www.ramenergy.com
Last Trade: 6.28
52-Week Range: 4.00 - 5.64
P/E:
RAM Energy Resources, Inc., an independent oil and natural gas company, engages in the acquisition, development, exploitation, exploration, and production of oil and natural gas properties. The company, through its subsidiaries, operates in the upstream segment of the oil and gas industry with activities, including the drilling, completion, and operation of oil and gas wells. It owns interests in onshore properties located in Electra/Burkburnett�Wichita and Wilbarger Counties, Texas; Pontotoc County, Oklahoma; Starr, Wharton, and Duval Counties, Texas; Boonsville�Jack and Wise Counties, Texas; Appalachian Devonian Shale�Cabell and Mason Counties, West Virginia; Bosque and Hamilton Counties, Texas; and Pittsburg, Hughes, and McIntosh Counties, Oklahoma. The company also owns interests in other properties located in Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kansas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Arkansas, and offshore California. As of December 31, 2007, it had estimated net proved reserves of 39.4 million barrels of oil equivalent, which includes crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. The company was founded in 1987 and is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Petrohawk Energy (NYSE: HK) - www.petrohawk.com
Last Trade: 39.77
52-Week Range: 13.64 - 37.25
P/E: 417.79
Petrohawk Energy Corporation engages in the acquisition, development, production, and exploration of oil and natural gas properties in North America. Its properties in the Mid-Continent region include the Elm Grove and Caspiana field in Bossier and Caddo parishes of north Louisiana; the Terryville field in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana; and the Fayetteville Shale in the Arkoma Basin in Arkansas. The company also holds interests in properties located in the Western region, which comprise the Waddell Ranch Field in Crane County, Texas; the Sawyer Canyon Field in situated in Sutton County, Texas; the WEHLU Field located in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma; the East Texas area in Panola, Harrison Shelby and Nacadoches Counties, Texas; the TXL Field situated in Ector County, Texas; and the Jalmat Field located in Lea County, New Mexico. As of December 31, 2007, it had total proved oil and natural gas reserves of approximately 1,062 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent, consisting of 18 million barrels of oil and 955 billion cubic feet of natural gas liquids. The company was founded in 1997 and is based in Houston, Texas.
Range Resources (NYSE: RRC) - www.rangeresources.com
Last Trade: 67.25
52-Week Range: 33.28 - 76.81
P/E: 64.58
Range Resources Corporation, an independent oil and gas company, engages in the exploration, development, and acquisition of oil and gas properties primarily in the southwestern, Appalachian, and Gulf Coast regions of the United States. The company's southwestern operations include the Barnett Shale of north central Texas, the Permian Basin of west Texas and eastern New Mexico, the East Texas Basin, the Texas Panhandle, and the Anadarko Basin of western Oklahoma. Its Appalachian operations include tight-gas, shale, coal bed methane, and conventional oil and gas production in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, New York, and West Virginia. The company's Gulf Coast operations include onshore Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It sells gas to utilities, marketing companies, and industrial users. The company owns and operates 5,100 miles of gas gathering pipelines in Appalachia, which transport gas to transmission lines, and directly to end-users and interstate pipelines. It also has interests in the Nora field. As of December 31, 2007, the company owned 3,385,000 gross acres of leasehold, including 407,800 acres of royalty interest. The company was founded in 1975. It was formerly known as Lomak Petroleum, Inc. and changed its name to Range Resources Corporation in 1998. Range Resources Corporation is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.
Nucor (NYSE: NUE) - www.nucor.com
Last Trade: 77.97
52-Week Range: 41.62 - 83.56
P/E: 15.31
Nucor Corporation and its subsidiaries engage in the manufacture and sale of steel and steel products in North America. It operates in two segments, Steel Mills and Steel Products. The Steel Mills segment offers hot-rolled steel products, such as angles, rounds, flats, channels, rebar, sheets, wide-flange beams, pilings, billets, blooms, beam blanks, and plates; and cold-rolled steel. The Steel Products segment manufactures steel joists and joist girders, steel deck, cold finished steel, steel fasteners, metal building systems, light gauge steel framing, steel grating, and expanded metal, and wire and wire mesh. The company sells its hot-rolled steel and cold-rolled steel to steel service centers, fabricators, and manufacturers; steel joists and joist girders, and steel deck to general contractors and fabricators; and cold finished steel and steel fasteners to distributors and manufacturers. The company was founded in 1940 and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.