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Kurt Wulff (McDep Associates) submits: Buy recommendations Occidental Petroleum (OXY), Devon Energy (DVN) and EOG Resources (EOG) along with other covered independents Southwestern Energy (SWN), Chesapeake Energy (CHK) and Anadarko Petroleum (APC) have sturdy resource potential enhanced by the technology of horizontal multistage fracturing. DVN appears most undervalued at a McDep Ratio of 0.65 and it is nearly debt-free. It also trades at the lowest cash flow multiple (EV/Ebitda) despite a competitive reserve life. Only EOG stock is in an uptrend currently as compared to its 200-day average. Like the stock market as a whole, long-term oil and gas prices are also in a downtrend, at least for now. Oil price measured by six-year futures at $83 a barrel is close to the 40-week average of $86. Natural gas price measured by six-year futures at $6.01 a million btu is close to the 40-week average of $6.40. We believe the long-term trends are up for patient investors.Complete Story »

Dividends4Life submits: Some traditionalists would say your home is your greatest wealth building asset. I would argue it is not. Others would say your income is your greatest wealth building asset. Though there is a lot of truth to the statement, it is still not your greatest wealth building asset. So, what is your greatest wealth building asset? Everyone is born with it. Few realize its importance until they lose most of it. The asset is so priceless it can’t be bought. Your most valuable wealth building asset is time. Complete Story »

Stocks discussed Jim Cramer's Stop Trading! TV Segment, Friday October 9. Citigroup (C), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), Liz Claiborne (LIZ), JC Penney (JCP)Complete Story »

Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit:
As noted earlier, Friday marks the two-year anniversary of the S&P 500's closing peak. As of Thursday's close (10/8), only 57 of the 500 stocks currently in the index are up since then. Needless to say, it has been a lousy two years. Below we highlight the 25 best performing stocks in the index over the last two years. As shown, sectors which are the most heavily represented include Technology (7), Energy (6), Consumer Discretionary (5), and Health Care (5). Check back Friday morning for a list of the top performing Mid and Small Cap stocks since 10/9/07.click to enlargeComplete Story »

Market Folly submits:This is the second quarter 2009 edition of our ongoing hedge fund portfolio tracking series. Before reading this update, make sure you check out our series preface on hedge fund 13F filings.Next up is T. Boone Pickens' hedge fund, BP Capital Management. He runs an energy-centric set of funds out of Dallas, Texas and is a big advocate of Peak Oil Theory. On the positive side of things, he has landed himself on Forbes' billionaire list. Yet on the negative side of things, he also graced the list of top hedge fund manager losers of 2008.Complete Story »

Marco Hickey submits:As promised in Alternate Short Strategy: Purchasing Put Protection for Less, I will be continuing my list of alternate ways to hedge your portfolio without shorting the stock. In this post (part 2) I will be covering the stocks from 21 to 35 on the list of 50 (ranked by market cap). To reiterate my previous post: I believe the market is due for a pull back, so it may be a good time to purchase protection on some of your long positions. I decided to write about the 50 largest stocks (by market cap) in the S&P 500 and give a put protection strategy for each of them. To get a detailed spreadsheet of all 500 stocks, which will allow you to rank them based on their market cap minute by minute with the click of a mouse check out my blog post here.If you're coming across this post you most likely hold or at least have interest in a stock I'll be talking about shortly. In this article I will lay out 15 option ideas, which will help hedge your portfolio against the downside. These ideas all require using the Bear Put Option Spread Strategy.Complete Story »