I first wrote about Schlumberger (SLB) here on May 6, 2009, at a price of $56.09. Shares of oil and natural gas servicer have jet-streamed toward major, psychological resistance at $100, easily clearing $90 on the way. It goes without saying that if you haven't already, now would be a good time to consider taking some profits off the table.

However, those investors who can tolerate the risk can maintain their full position and go for an even bigger gain, as SLB will likely continue to head north.

Further, I'd raise the sell/stop loss to $68 from $63.

"Ensco PLC (ESV), a London-based firm which provides offshore drilling services, operates eight ultra-deepwater semi-submersible rigs, as well as 40 premium jackup rigs," notes John Reese.

The editor of Validea explains, "The stock, which has a $7.7 billion market cap, gets strong interest from the models I base on the writings of value investor Benjamin Graham. Indeed, the stock earns a 100% rating under my Ben Graham model.

"Many of the best opportunities lie outside the major indices, where a myriad of good stocks can fly under the radar. In fact, isn't a member of the S&P 500 or the Dow," says John Reese.

The editor of Validea explains, "Atwood Oceanics (ATW), a Houston-based offshore oil drilling firm, gets strong interest from both my Benjamin Graham- and Peter Lynch-inspired strategie.

"With a $2.4 billion market cap. Atwood has been a big winner for one of my most stringent -- and most successful -- strategies, the model I base on the writings of the late Benjamin Graham.

Here are the next four of my 2011 picks. I am behind schedule, after publishing the first 5 earlier in the week (see: Chasing Value: 2011 Stock Picks -- 5 of 11). This year instead of starting completely anew, I am adjusting my 2010 picks. There is no sense in abandoning good ideas just because the calendar turned a page.

You will actually find support of running themes I have been writing about over the past few months. One of these is the idea of making a contrarian investment in a basket of stocks that have been both scalded and scolded in the headlines. Six stocks were included in such a group that I called the "toxic stocks" (see: Chasing Value: Toxic Stock Update #3 -- BAC, BP, C, GE, GS, RIG).

What does it mean when a stock is downgraded to "Outperform" from "Strong Buy" as Raymond James did this week? That was the analysis painted on Noble Corp. (NE) and it's hard to figure.

What is the difference? What are they telling investors? You should switch from betting the farm to only betting the house on this stock?

They reduced their price target to $41 from $44. Noble closed yesterday at $34.66, so Raymond James is still speculating on a gain over 20% in the next twelve months.

They don't all work out. The stock of offshore oil/natural gas servicer Hornbeck Offshore Services (HOS), first written about here on May 28, 2009 at a price of $27.08, was stopped-out at $14, for a roughly 13-point loss.

In March, Hornbeck's stock formed a bear-hug -- a bearish stock pattern, from a technical analysis standpoint -- then moved lower after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Last week's Barron's (Sept. 6) was full of great stock insights and the favorable reports on Noble Corp. (NE) and Raytheon Company (RTN) were well articulated. Often you hear that by the time the news hits the streets, it's too late to get in on the bargain. This is a myth; both of these stocks are good examples proving the point because they were bargains before the stories were published and remain so today.

This is not to say that a broadly published story will not have an impact on the stock price -- it may. However, there is not a one to one correlation and there are many other factors to weigh. Also, given the number of financial publications, blogs, press releases, analysts calls and more, almost every company's stock is in the news, if not daily then weekly.

The stock chart of oil services company Halliburton Company (HAL) has formed a double-top, a bearish technical pattern, and could also become a bear-hug.

The stock broke below the key, 50-day moving average right about the time of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and has since dropped below the 200-day moving average -- the toughest moving average to break in trading.

Any institution that says it can forecast with any confidence the impact of the BP Plc. (BP) Gulf of Mexico oil spill on energy policy is asking someone to put a lot of trust in the organization's powers of prediction -- certainly more than an investor should.

And the reason is obvious enough: The scope of the oil spill's damage will vary depending on the weather, ocean currents, the size of the spill, technology, the size of the containment and repair effort -- all of which may vary over the coming weeks.

What is certain is that the spill has damaged the environment and restructured the energy debate in Washington. Before the spill, the assumption was that oil companies had plans in place to deal with a large, offshore spill. BP has demonstrated that some oil companies may not -- a reality that throws into doubt the safety of deep-water drilling for oil. How can you drill one, two, three miles below sea-level if it's uncertain that the company can contain a spill, and even less likely that it can do so quickly?

It is not often that I suggest a stock that does not pay dividends but today I make an exception. Sometimes a good story jumps off the page and when that story is about a possible investment and the numbers seem to back up the story, I have to give it some thought. That is the case with Transocean (RIG).

First of all, it could not have slipped by anybody that the Obama administration has proposed expanding offshore oil drilling opportunities in the eastern Gulf of Mexico near Florida, the southeastern U.S. coastline and the northern cost of Alaska -- 167 million acres of ocean.

In politics, it's called "smurfing" (sometimes it's also referred to as triangulation) -- where one takes an issue on which the opposition party has an advantage, modifies it, and transforms it into one that benefits your party.

President Bill Clinton used it successfully during the nation's mood for welfare reform in the 1990s: he took an issue that likely would have benefited Republicans and transformed it into one that became one of his presidency's hallmarks.

And now President Barack Obama is attempting to do it with his decision to open portions of the U.S. coastline to offshore drilling for oil and natural gas.

Drill, baby, drill was the calling card of the Republican Party during the last presidential election.

With high oil prices and rising demand, finding new sources of oil is imperative. Given environmental concerns, offshore drilling is one space that still offers meaningful potential to increase domestic supply.

Diamond Offshore Drilling (NYSE: DO) operates some 45 deep water rigs that are keeping extraordinarily busy with oil prices on the rise.

This post is part of a series in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked financial experts to name their top stock pick if McCain or if Obama wins the election.

"One stock that could get a November bounce should McCain win is seismic firm CGG Veritas (NYSE: CGV); the Republican mantra has been 'drill, drill, drill' and this company helps find out where to do that," says Bill Martin in his BullMarket.com.

"If McCain wins office and is able to get Congress to pass his drilling initiatives for offshore drilling (one stronger than the bill that was just recently passed by Congress), the first step will be to find where exactly this oil is located.

"That is where French seismic company CGG Veritas comes in. It calls itself 'the world's leading international pure-play geophysical company.' The company was born in January of 2007 as the result of a merger of the former Compagnie Générale de Géophysique and Veritas DGC.

"The company provides seismic data and services to the oil and gas industry, and manufactures seismic equipment through its Sercel subsidiary for sale to other seismic companies.

"The company conducts seismic surveys on a contract and multi-client basis. The job entails acquiring, processing, and interpreting land and marine seismic data, and producing images of the subsurface in multi-dimensional and multi-component formats.

"Those pictures are used to identify new oil and gas structures and manage existing reservoirs. It also has up to 40 land-based teams that can be put in the field and can work in a variety of terrain.

"With CGG Veritas's stock beaten down -- despite solid earnings and guidance -- and trading at an attractive valuation, a McCain win could be the cure to its recent ills."

Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a daily look at the latest market commentary and favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

"Crude oil remains deeply oversold on an intermediate-term basis, suggesting a rally sometime in the early fall," says Dennis Slothower.

The editor of Stealth Stocks looks to Petroleo Brasileiro SA (NYSE: PBR) as his latest "stock of the month." Here's his review of the Brazilian firm that is now the world's 8th-largest oil company.

"The founding of Petrobras was authorized in October 1953, with the objective of executing, on behalf of the federal government, the activities of the oil sector in Brazil.

"Over the past five decades or so, the company has become the country's leader in the distribution of oil products, an activity not covered by the government monopoly, and today it is internationally acknowledged as the eighth-largest oil company in the world.

"Leading the sector in the development of one of the most advanced deepwater and ultra-deepwater technologies for oil production, PBR was twice (in 1992 and 2001) awarded the Offshore Technology Company (OTC) prize, the most important award in the sector.

"We are moving headlong into oil," notes John Reese, who analyzes stocks based on the criteria used by "legendary" investors such as Buffett, Graham and Lynch.

In his Validea newsletter, he says, "My fundamental models indicate that the oil industry is where the best values in the market are." Here's a look at W&T Offshore (NYSE: WTI), which is based on the criteria used by contrarian David Dreman.

"The economy and stock market have gone through a legitimate crisis because of the credit woes, and it takes time for something like that to work itself out.

"But the important thing to remember is that we've been through financial crises before -- even bad-debt financial crises like this one -- and the market has always stabilized and then pushed higher.

"And history has shown that those who can stick with the stock market through down times like these will be rewarded.

"David Dreman -- one of the gurus I base my strategies on -- notes in his recent Forbes column, 'If you pack up now, chances are you'll miss a good part of the next bull market. A large part of the gains are always made in the first few months of one, when market-timing investors are still on the sidelines.'