AOL Money & Finance

ONEOK posts

Feed

Analyst downgrades: Golar LNG, Yingli Green Energy, Bill Barrett Corp.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Golar LNG, Yingli Green Energy and Bill Barrett were today's noteworthy downgrades:
  • Jefferies downgraded shares of Golar LNG (NASDAQ: GLNG) to Hold from Buy on valuation, as they see limited upside over the next 12 months.
  • Banc of America downgraded shares of Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE) to Neutral from Buy on difficult fundamentals, as they believe solar industry gross margins will continue to contract due to silicon competition and decelerating demand in Spain and Germany.
  • SunTrust lowered Bill Barrett Corporation (NYSE: BBG) to Neutral from Buy based on valuation and lack of near-term exploration catalysts.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:

ONEOK (OKE) shares forming bullish pennant after favorable guidance

ONEOK (NYSE: OKE) purchases, transports, stores and distributes natural gas in the United States. The firm's ONEOK Partners segment is engaged in the fractionation of natural gas liquids and the gathering and processing natural gas, primarily in the Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain regions. The Distribution unit provides natural gas distribution services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. The Energy Services operation focuses primarily on marketing natural gas. ONEOK sold its gathering and processing, natural gas liquids, pipelines and storage businesses to ONEOK Partners in 2006 and became that company's general partner and 46% owner.

The firm pleased investors last week, when it boosted its FY07 EPS guidance from $2.62-2.72 to $2.75-2.79. The Street had been looking for $2.66. Management also issued FY08 guidance of $2.75-3.15 ($2.87 consensus). OKE shares popped on the news and then moved into a bullish "pennant" consolidation pattern. Prices frequently exit pennants moving in the same direction they were traveling on entry. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Brokers recommend the shares with two "strong buys", one "buy" and six "holds". The OKE P/E ratio (19.83), Price to Sales ratio (0.40), Price to Book ratio (2.66), Price to Cash Flow ratio (7.40), Price to Free Cash Flow ratio (28.53) and Revenue per Employee ($2.77M) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. Institutions hold about 74% of the outstanding shares. The stock is one of those used to calculate the S&P 400 MidCap Index. Over the past 52 weeks, it has traded between $39.26 and $55.27. A stop-loss of $42.00 looks good here. Note that the firm is expected to report Q4 results on February 25th, after the closing bell.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com. He does not hold a position in the stock discussed above.

Investing in Oklahoma: Arena Resources (ARD), Chesapeake Energy (CHK), ONEOK (OKE) and others

Oklahoma celebrates its centennial in November -- Happy Birthday, Oklahoma!

Today, Oklahoma is known as one of the most business-friendly states, due in part to low tax rates. Oklahoma's economy is based largely on the energy, aviation, and food processing sectors. From 2000 to 2006, Oklahoma's gross domestic product increased 50 percent. The GDP per capita grew almost 10 percent between 2005 and 2006, one of the highest rates in the nation.

Fortune magazine's 2007 list of the fastest growing companies in the U.S. included six from Oklahoma. At number three on the list was Tulsa-based Arena Resources Inc. (NYSE: ARD), a seven-year old oil and gas firm with a three-year annual growth rate of 165 percent. Back in August, Arena announced strong second quarter 2007 financial and operating results. Arena is also a major holding in the Bruce Fund, which recently made the 2007 Forbes Honor Roll.

Tulsa-based oil and gas driller Helmerich & Payne Inc. (NYSE: HP) had a three-year annual growth rate of 37 percent, which beat the S&P 500. In August, H&P announced strong second quarter 2007 results, as well as two new contracts. The Motley Fool sees expansion in other sectors as good news for drillers such as H&P.

Continue reading Investing in Oklahoma: Arena Resources (ARD), Chesapeake Energy (CHK), ONEOK (OKE) and others

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA+30.6910,464.40
NASDAQ+6.872,176.05
S&P 500+4.981,110.63

Last updated: November 27, 2009: 02:00 AM

BloggingStocks Exclusives

Hot Stocks

DailyFinance Headlines

Latest from BloggingBuyouts

WalletPop Headlines

AOL Business News

BioHealth Investor Headlines

Sponsored Links

My Portfolios

Track your stocks here!

Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

BloggingStocks Partners

More from AOL Money & Finance