Natural gas producer Ultra Petroleum Corporation’s (UPL) third quarter results came in better than expected, primarily due to increased production. Earnings per share, excluding non-cash mark-to-market charge, came in at 57 cents, topping the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 11.8%. However, in line with other onshore natural gas-focused companies – Devon Energy Corp. (DVN), XTO Energy Inc. (XTO), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) and Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) – earnings and revenue comparisons with the year-earlier period were quite weak, severely hampered by the slump in commodity prices. Ultra’s adjusted earnings per share fell 26.9% (from 78 cents to 57 cents), while operating revenues declined 47.9% to $155.2 million. Record Quarterly Production Production during the quarter increased 26.5% year over year and 3.2% sequentially to a record 45.9 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe), reflecting the company’s successful drilling activities. Natural gas volumes jumper ...

  Last Thursday, we received a mildly bearish report from the federal government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA), showing a higher-than-expected rise in natural gas supplies. Stockpiles held in underground storage in the lower 48 states rose by 58 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ended October 9. This takes the current storage level to a new all-time high of 3.72 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), which is up 13.8% from last year's level and 14.6% above the five-year range (as clear from the nearby chart from the EIA). Current stocks are 450 Bcf above last year’s level and 474 Bcf above the five-year average. The inventory addition was lower than the five-year-average injection of 64 Bcf and last year's build of 81 Bcf. The relentless increase in gas storage levels has meant that with three weeks remaining in the storage injection season, stockpiles ...

In the weekly report that always seems to move prices 5% one way or the other, the natural gas supply report showed a higher than expected supply in natural gas. a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087amp;sid=aJ._taTKDeSE"Here's the story from Bloomberg/a:br /br /blockquoteNatural gas futures fell the most in two months after a government report showed a bigger-than- estimated increase in U.S. stockpiles. Supplies in storage gained 66 billion cubic feet in the week ended July 31 to 3.089 trillion cubic feet, the a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=DOENUSCH%3AIND" t_delay="50" t_width="110" t_bgcolor="#ddedd9" t_fontface="Verdana,sans-serif" t_fontcolor="#000000" t_static="true" t_above="true"Energy Department/a said. Analysts forecast a gain of 61 billion. The total was a record for late July, based on weekly department data going back to 1994.br /br /“We have a lot of supply and it really weighs on the market,” said a href="http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Phil+Flynnamp;site=wnewsamp;client=wnewsamp;proxystylesheet=wnewsamp;output=xml_no_dtdamp;ie=UTF-8amp;oe=UTF-8amp;filter=pamp;getfields=wnnisamp;sort=date:D:S:d1" t_delay="50" t_width="110" t_bgcolor="#ddedd9" t_fontface="Verdana,sans-serif" t_fontcolor="#000000" t_static="true" t_above="true"Phil Flynn/a, vicebr /president of research at PFG Best in Chicago. “The dollar ...

In an odd bit of capitalist irony, the U.S. banking crisis could end up as the catalyst that finally jump-starts the long-moribund market for initial public stock offerings (IPOs). In fact, it already appears to be happening. U.S. banks - under government order to raise capital as a result of the recently completed bank stress tests, and desperate to shed the onerous shackles of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) - have been announcing billions in secondary stock offerings in recent days, and experts say many more such deals can be expected. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) yesterday (Tuesday) became the latest U.S. companies to pursue new sources of capital, announcing deals that involved offerings of stock or debt, or outright asset sales. Those announcements ...

Takeover Targets: 3 Steps To Finding Them & 3 Stocks For Any Portfolio

by Louis Basenese, Advisory Panelist Senior Analyst, The Oxford Club

I promise. Alexander Green and I are not in cahoots about the coming boom in corporate takeovers…

We both researched the possibility separately. Unprompted, I might add. And yet, armed with different evidence, we arrived at the same conclusion.

If you ask me, such a convergence of analysis in a narrow space of time shouldn’t be ignored. So today, let’s move on from why a takeover boom is imminent and focus exclusively on three takeover targets you can profit from…

Identifying The Market’s Next Takeover Targets

The task of identifying the market’s next takeover targets can be daunting. Literally thousands of potential targets exist, which is probably why most investors liken it to a crapshoot and in turn, shun such a strategy altogether.

But that’s a

...

Yet another 300 point loss on a Friday, TGIF indeed.  But at least gas is getting cheaper and with that the stocks that make up those wonderful oil companies.  Alas, time to check yo self. ...

We are maintaining our Buy recommendation on the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor Transocean Inc. (RIG) shares following the company’s solid operational results in the recent quarter. The company reported strong revenue and earnings growth, driven by the acquisition of GlobalSantaFe and higher average dayrates. Revenue more than doubled, soaring to $3.1 billion, while net income topped $1 billion.

With a backlog of nearly $41 billion, the new Transocean offers an unparalleled level of earnings and cash-flow visibility. We expect the positive momentum to continue due to the favorable deepwater drilling outlook that should support demand for the company’s products. Our unchanged price target stands at $165.

The ultra-deepwater drillship, Discover Spirit, was awarded a three-year drilling operations contract worth up to $569.4 million with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC), commencing December 2010. In March, the ultra-deepwater drillship, Nautilus, received a three-year contract extension with a subsidiary of Royal Dutch

...

Waiting for GustavHurricane Gustav grew stronger as it moved on a path projected to take it over Haiti on Tuesday and just south of Cuba on Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.Forecasters say they believe Gustav will strengthen into a "major hurricane" and move into the central Gulf of Mexico by Sunday, but there is little certainty about where it might go from there. CRUDE OIL Oil Companies Win $1 Billion Reimbursement Over Drilling Leases Devon Energy Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. were among a dozen oil companies that should be reimbursed more than $1 billion they paid the U.S. for leases to drill off the California coast, an appeals court ruled today.XX Sean’s note – Anadarko was recommended in my Running on Fumes energy report and Devon was recommended in my Energy Panic of 2008 ...