Many investors often look to the larger oil and gas developers for a safe investment, and in a certain sense these types of companies are perhaps one of your more safe investments. Energy after all is always a need. There are, however, companies on the verge that may make better investments as they move forward with production and development plans. While some may look left at these more main-stream players, looking right for those companies that may be in the right place at the right time may be a bit more profitable. Care needs to be taken and research done, but if one picks wisely, profit will be there.

American Oil & Gas Inc., an oil and gas exploration company, works to explore and develop crude oil and natural gas deposits primarily in Colorado and Wyoming. The company holds natural gas interests through its American Tower Inc. subsidiary but is generally

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OUTLOOK The Alternative Energy industry is going through a recovery after absorbing the global recession and the cascading fall in global crude oil prices. Earlier this year, quite a few alternative energy companies were in the trough. Though these companies have recovered from their lows, their valuations are still significantly lower than their 52-week highs. The growth of alternative energy companies is closely tied to the fortunes of the economy. In its latest release, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicted that total U.S. electricity consumption will decline by 3.3% in 2009 before growing by 1.3% in 2010 as the improving economy coaxes a gradual recovery in electricity sales. In fiscal 2008, annual U.S. photovoltaic (PV) installed capacity grew by 63% year-over-year, bringing the cumulative installed capacity to 792MW. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) -- the U.S. trade association representing close to 500 companies ...

Quick, name me a few companies that have grown revenue and net income year over year. Having trouble? Me too. Here's one. Diamond Offshore Drilling. I've written about them occasionally over the past few quarters. They operate in a very profitable industry, and to me are about the best in that industry. Here's a brief snippet from the a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Diamond-Offshore-3Q-profit-up-apf-905257113.html?x=0amp;.v=1"release/a:br /br /blockquoteContract driller Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. on Thursday said third-quarter earnings rose 17 percent as rising crude prices drove up demand from oil companies for more drilling services. As the economy showed signs of recovery in the third quarter, crude oil prices stabilized, trading as high as $76 per barrel, well above a 2009 low of $46.73 per barrel in February. Diamond Offshore's quarterly earnings climbed to $364.1 million, or $2.62 per share, from $310.5 million, or $2.23 per share, during ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 12, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Ford (F), Honda (HMC), Caterpillar (CAT), Boeing (BA) and Chevron Corp. (CVX).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Trade Deficit Improves

While the year-over-year improvement in the trade deficit is very good news, the reason for it is not so good. It was a reflection of the overall collapse in world trade, something that makes everyone poorer. As far as the GDP calculations are concerned, it does not make any difference

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Yesterday, Houston-based integrated oil major Marathon Oil Corporation (MRO) provided an interim update for the third quarter of 2009 (covering the first two months of the quarter). Recovery in crude oil prices is expected to benefit the company's upstream segment, while the downstream business will see higher refinery output and throughputs. The company plans to release its quarterly results on November 3, 2009. Upstream Marathon expects third-quarter oil and natural gas production available for sale from continuing operations to average 395,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day (BOE/d), which is within the company's guidance for the quarter. This is below the previous quarter’s output of 411,000 BOE/d but above the year-ago production of 389 BOE/d and closer to the high end of its 380,000–400,000 BOE/d guidance. Marathon's realized oil price domestically averaged $60.59 per barrel, up 14% sequentially, but down 43% year-over-year. The company's domestic realized price was ...

Yesterday, after the market close, Chevron Corp. (CVX) released its third-quarter interim update, covering the first two months of the quarter. On the whole, the update is positive, with earnings expected to be higher than in the previous quarter. The company expects the upstream segment to benefit from an increase in crude oil prices as well as from gains of about $400 million associated with asset sales and tax items. Downstream results are likely to be relatively flat, as it continues to be hurt by weak refining margins. Chevron further said that unfavorable foreign currency movements will affect the segment profitability. Upstream The best part of the update pertained to upstream volumes, highlighting Chevron’s attractive growth profile among the super-majors. The company reported that oil and natural gas production average 2.687 million oil-equivalent barrels per day – better than estimates and nearly 10% above ...

Tiny Texas Oil Company Hits $2.8 Trillion Discovery A microcap company from Dallas has discovered 40 billion barrels of crude oil. The haul is worth $2.8 trillion. It’s one of the biggest oil discoveries in history. And one company now owns the right to every drop. It’s about to bring this oil to market. Investors who get in beforehand could earn 4,620% gains. But the really amazing thing is where this oil is located. For complete details, please go here.

The U.S. trade deficit expanded at its fastest pace in more than ten years in July, accelerated by rising oil prices and increased demand for auto parts and industrial supplies.

The gap between imports and exports rose 16% – the largest percentage increase since February 1999 – to $32 billion in July from a revised $27.5 billion in June that was larger than previously reported, the Commerce Department said. After …

The U.S. trade deficit expanded at its fastest pace in more than ten years in July, accelerated by rising oil prices and increased demand for auto parts and industrial supplies.

The gap between imports and exports rose 16% – the largest percentage increase since February 1999 – to $32 billion in July from a revised $27.5 billion in June that was larger than previously reported, the Commerce Department said. After eliminating the influence of prices, which are the figures used to calculate gross domestic product (GDP), the trade gap widened to $38.8 billion from $35.8 billion.

Imports surged 4.7% to $159.6 billion, fueled by an increase in oil prices and strong demand for industrial materials. Crude oil prices rose to an average $62.48 a barrel from $59.17 in June. And imports of capital goods, which include cars and auto parts, jumped to $30.2 billion from $28.9 billion.

The government’s Car Allowance Rebate

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Earlier today, PetroChina Company Ltd. (PTR) reported results for the six months ended June 30, 2009. Net income for the period was 50.5 billion yuan ($7.4 billion), down more than 7% from 54.4 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) a year earlier. The downward revision in net income was due to lower volumes and crude prices. The average realized crude price in the first half was $42.46 per barrel, down 54.6% from $93.45 per barrel in the year-earlier period. Total production was 588 million barrels of oil equivalent, down nearly 1% from the earlier year. Crude oil production was 418 million barrels, down 4.8% year over year. Natural gas production was 1,021 billion cubic feet, up 10.6% year over year. The Exploration and Production segment generated profit from operations of 37.6 billion yuan ($5.5 billion), compared to 131.3 billion yuan ($18.6 billion) in the year-earlier period. This drastic ...

China’s largest petroleum company, Shanghai Petrochemical Company Limited (SHI), posted net earnings of RMB 1 billion ($129 million) in the first six-months of 2009 helped by a lower cost of sales. Basic earnings were RMB 0.139 ($1.79) per share in contrast to a basic loss of RMB 0.050 ($0.65) in the first half of 2008. Crude oil is the company's major raw material and accounted for 59.32% of cost of sales in the first half. With the significant drop in average price and volumes of crude oil, total cost of crude oil processed decreased 59.33% to RMB 10.4 billion ($1.34 billion). Year-on-year, the average unit cost of processing crude oil almost halved to RMB 2,543.77 ($328) per ton. Energy and power costs decreased 15.7% to RMB 774.8 million ($99.95 million). Consequently, cost of sales decreased 48.55% to RMB 17.60 billion ($2.27 billion), accounting for 92.25% of ...