EnCana (NYSE: ECA - option chain) shares are rising today after the company announced it is planning to split into two companies: a natural gas producer and an integrated oil firm. ECA had originally planned to do this a year ago, but halted the plan after the financial crisis made the move more difficult. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on ECA.

ECA opened this morning at $58.27. So far today the stock has hit a low of $57.64 and a high of $59.00. As of 11:40, ECA is trading at $58.52 up $3.89 (7.1%). The chart for ECA looks bullish and S&P gives ECA a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

"The global oil and gas majors have been brutally wounded since energy prices peaked last July," observes resources expert Eric Roseman.

In his Commodity Trend Alert, he explains, "We believe it's safe to start accumulating these companies again. We're buying one of the largest and best-managed natural gas companies in the world – Encana (NYSE: ECA)."

The advisor notes, "Based in Calgary, Alberta, Encana is Canada's largest natural gas distribution company based on stock market capitalization and natural gas production.

"ECA produces approximately 4.4 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent per day. More than 80% is natural gas - the cleanest burning of all fossil fuels.

EnCana (NYSE: ECA) plans to separate into two companies, one focused on oil and the other natural-gas assets.

ECA closed at $85.93 Friday.

Friedman Billings Ramsey says: "The sum-of-the-parts DCF valuation is $92/share based on the company's most reserve data."

ECA over all option implied volatility of 35 is above its 26-week average of 33 according to Track Data, suggesting slightly larger price fluctuations.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Energy companies, Regulated and Diversified Utilities and Tailsman Energy were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Bernstein raised its 2008 oil forecast to $92.30/bbl, up 27%, and 2008 natural gas forecast to $8.30/mcf, up 7%. By 2012, the firm expects oil prices to be around $86/bbl and for gas to be $9.2/mcf. The firm upgraded Apache Corp (NYSE: APA) and XTO Energy (NYSE: XTO) to Outperform from Market Perform and EnCana (NYSE: ECA) to Market Perform from Underperform.
  
• Goldman upgraded the Regulated and Diversified Utilities sub-sectors to Attractive from Neutral citing expected economic weakness, positive commodity exposure, and earnings growth. The firm upgraded American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Citigroup upgraded shares of Tailsman Energy (NYSE: TLM) to Buy from Hold ahead of the company's annual meeting as they believe it will announce a new strategy of low risk resource development on existing acreage and that shares will react positively.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• UBS raised Watson Wyatt (NYSE: WW) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Jefferies upgraded Clear Channel Outdoors (NYSE: CCO) to Buy from Hold.
  
• Bear upgraded Telecom Italia (NYSE: TI) to Peer Perform from Underperform.

Timberland (NYSE: TBL) is recently up 87 cents to $16.64. The Wall Street Journal has frequently reported in the past that TBL is exploring a plan to sell itself. TBL December and January option implied volatility of 48 is near its 26-week average of 46 according to Track Data, suggesting flat price fluctuations.

EnCana (NYSE: ECA), a leading North American natural gas producer, will be holding its 2008 Outlook Meeting on December 12th. WTI Crude Futures are up 0.87% to $88.25 according to Bloomberg. ECA overall option implied volatility of 33 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price fluctuations.

Daily Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

David Fried has developed an industry-leading reputation by focusing on companies buying back their shares. Here, his Buyback Letter looks at EnCana Corp. (NYSE: ECA).

"Canadian oil producer EnCana is among the largest holders of oil and gas resource lands in onshore North America, has an extensive drilling inventory with some 40,000 well locations, strong production and reserves growth, and robust project returns. It is focused on natural gas and in-situ oil sands.

"As the dangers of global warming have become more apparent, major energy companies are attempting to capture carbon dioxide and lock it away where it won't trap more heat. Industry leader EnCana has embarked on a pilot project to improve recovery rates from mature oil wells by using carbon dioxide.

"EnCana buys carbon dioxide produced by a power plant and ships it via pipeline to its Weyburn field in southern Saskatchewan. EnCana injects the gas into its oil field, where it reduces the viscosity of the oil, allowing the company to increase its recovery from the field.

What are the best energy investments for long-term investors? To answer this question, I surveyed 20 of the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors to find their current favorite ideas in the energy sector.

Interestingly, the advisors see the best opportunities in areas well beyond traditional oil firms; indeed, no one included in this report chose a major integrated oil company. Rather, the advisors have shown a preference for various oil services sectors, non-oil energy sources, and developing alternative technologies.

Some focus on areas such as deep-sea operations with Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO), Transocean Inc. (NYSE: RIG) and Oceaneering International (NYSE: OII), while others look toward oil shippers such as Nordic American Tanker Shipping (NYSE: NAT) and refiners such as Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO).

Others chose companies that make specific products needed by the oil & gas industries such as NATCO Group Inc. (NYSE: NTG), which makes a wide range of oil & gas processing systems; Dresser-Rand Group Inc. (NYSE: DRC), a maker of control systems; Gardner Denver Inc. (NYSE: GDI), which makes compressor and fluid transfer systems; Tenaris (NYSE: TS), a maker of pipes and tublar products and Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB), the largest and most diversified of the oil services companies.

Got gold? In this edition of StockWatch: Between the Bells, Thomas Winmill of the Midas Funds outlines his strategy for broadening your portfolio with investments in precious metals and foreign energy concerns.

Echoing the sentiments of recent StockWatch contributors, Tom says we're currently in a bull market, and can expect growth to continue, thanks in part to recently lowered interest rates.

Tom recommends investors check into foreign equities -- he favors overseas energy companies like Hong Kong's CNOOC (NYSE: CEO), and EnCana Corporation (NYSE: ECA) of Canada. CNOOC manages China's offshore oil and gas exploration, and currently traded in the $160s, gushing up from around $100 in mid-August. EnCana is one of North America's largest oil and gas distributors, and trades about $20 higher than at the start of 2007.

Tom also urges investors to look beyond stocks and bonds, and suggests devoting between five and ten percent of your portfolio to gold and other precious metals.

If you enjoyed this clip, check out recent StockWatch interviews with MSN Money host and author Timothy Sykes and AOL Money Coach Hilary Kramer.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: DaimlerChrysler (DCX), Omniture (OMTR), Convergys (CVG), Expedia (EXPE) and Baidu.com (BIDU) were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• WestLB upgraded shares of DaimlerChrysler (NYSE: DCX) to Buy from Add after the company raised the profit margin forecast for its Mercedes unit.

• Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR) was upgraded by Piper Jaffray to Market Perform from Underperform to reflect the company's strong revenue momentum and expanding margins.

• Wedbush upgraded Convergys (NYSE: CVG) to Hold from Sell on valuation.

• Citigroup raised shares of Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) and Baidu.com (NASDAQ: BIDU) to Buy from Hold on valuation...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Bear Stearns upgraded shares of Ryder System (NYSE: R) to Outperform from Underperform.

• Lehman raised EnCana Corp (NYSE: ECA) to Equal Weight from Underweight.

• USG Corp (NYSE: USG) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Buckingham.

• Morgan Keegan upgraded shares of Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA) to Outperform from Market Perform.

• Citigroup raised Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE: CFR) to Hold from Sell.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

MOST NOTEWORTHY: General Motors Corp (GM), DaimlerChrysler (DCX), Mattel, Inc (MAT), Nvidia Corp (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Lehman upgraded shares of General Motors (NYSE: GM) to Equal-Weight from Underweight with a $30 target following the Chrysler sale as the firm believes GM will now take a tougher stance on its labor negotiations.

• UBS upgraded shares of DaimlerChrysler AG (NYSE: DCX) to Buy from Neutral on the Chrysler sale and valuation. The broker believes the core Daimler unit looks inexpensive.

• Mattel Inc (NYSE: MAT) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Matrix USA to reflect increasing sales growth.

• ThinkEquity upgraded shares of Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) to Buy from Sell as the firm believes AMD could beat expectations for the next several quarters, likely affecting NVDA's chipset business and driving shares higher.

• ThinkEquity upgraded shares of Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) to Buy from Sell citing strong Dell Inc (DELL) orders. Following Nvidia's comments on its quarterly report and channel checks, the firm now believes AMD is poised to beat expectations for the next several quarters and is truly a going concern...

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Citigroup upgraded EnCana Corp (NYSE: ECA) to Hold from Sell.

• BMO Upgraded Las Vegas Sands Corp (NYSE: LVS) to Outperform from Market Perform.

• Banc Of America raised Marathon Oil Corp (NYSE: MRO) to Buy from Neutral with a $125 target.

• Newfield Exploration Co (NYSE: NFX) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein.

• Credit Suisse upgraded Ralcorp Holdings, Inc (NYSE: RAH) to Outperform from Neutral.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

This morning I posted on five stocks that might be worth buying in New York society doyenne, Brooke Astor's $23.5 million portfolio of 15 stocks. But with Spring finally sprung, which ones should she clean out of her portfolio?

This is the question a CNBC producer posed to me after reading the Astor post. I'll be appearing tonight at 7:15pm with Melissa Francis's On The Money. Here are the three stocks I would clean out of Brooke Astor's portfolio:

• Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA), the Canadian gas producer, is overpriced given shrinking earnings expectations. ECA had $16.4 billion in sales -- up 16% -- and $5.1 billion in profit -- down 66% -- in the last year. Its earnings are expected to decline 7.8% to $4.01 next year and its P/E of 8.6 seems high given the earnings decline. Encana has a dividend yield of 1.6% and it rose 4.3% in the last year.
• XTO Energy (NYSE: XTO), the Texas oil and gas producer, is also overpriced given shrinking earnings expectations. XTO had $4.6 billion in sales -- up 30% -- and $1.9 billion in profit -- down 5% -- in the last year. Its earnings are expected to decline 0.4% to $4.55 next year and its P/E of 10.9 seems high given the earnings decline. XTO's dividend yield is 0.89%.and it rose 4.3% in the last year.
• Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), the investment bank, is pricey given its low earnings growth expectations. MS had an explosive 2006 -- with $83.2 billion in sales -- up 47% -- and $8.4 billion in profit -- up 59%. Its earnings are expected to rise a mere 3.8% to $8.18 next year and its P/E of 10.1 yields a lofty PEG ratio of 2.65. MS has a dividend yield of 1.33% and it rose 29% in the last year.

Of the three, MS is Astor's biggest holding and if its earnings exceed these low expectations the stock could do quite well. But given all the uncertainty in the mortgage markets -- to which MS is exposed -- I'd suggest Astor lighten up on MS as well.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned in this post.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Best Buy (BBY) and Oracle (ORCL) were today's most notable downgrades:

• William Blair downgraded Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE:BBY) to Market Perform from Outperform, expecting a slowing down in growth from advanced TV, a difficult competitive environment and cyclicality of consumer electronics spending in 2007;
• First Albany downgraded Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL) to Neutral from Buy, citing valuation and a likely slowing down in growth within two-to-three quarters.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Baird downgraded Forward Air Corp. (NASDAQ:FWRD) to Neutral from Outperform, citing weak near-term truck freight trends and economic uncertainty.
• EnCana Corp (NYSE:ECA) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Citigroup to reflect the disappointing 2007 guidance with 1% overall production growth, as well as cost run-up and concerns of portfolio quality.
• Following poor second-quarter earnings and light third-quarter guidance, Baird downgraded Tektronix Inc. (NYSE:TEK) to Neutral from Outperform and a $33 target.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).