Namzes Cycles
Hurst Cycle & Technical Analyst, Commodities/Crypto/Equity Indices, Risk Management Background
Ecopetrol is burdened by bad management, government-set gas prices, a CEO under investigation and workers wanting to strike. A small short also hedges against the risk of a Cepeda win in Colombia's presidential election, which has turned into a nail-biter. x.com x.comÂ
Energy stocks enter the week bullish after the president announced a great oil deal and crude gapped up, a move worth noting for its future impact. The view covers broad energy and exploration-and-production funds, refiners Marathon Petroleum, PBF Energy and Valero, drillers Transocean, Helmerich & Payne and Valaris, and service companies NESR and SLB. x.comÂ
Occidental Petroleum is mispriced at about 8.4x trailing earnings and an 8.7% free cash flow yield during an oil shock. Eight times earnings in an oil shock is not a valuation but a clerical error with a ticker symbol. Iran cannot beat the US Navy, so it is waiting out America's vote in 49 days, since Iran does not vote until 2028; owning Occidental beats hiding in Treasuries. x.comÂ
Oil supply disruption will take months to resolve even if the ceasefire holds, and Venture Global's fundamentals are stronger than ever. The stock fell 25% as a ceasefire became expected, after a 155% run this year, for valid reasons. Destroyed infrastructure and output halted for safety will take months to return to full production; per The Kobeissi Letter, attacks cut Saudi Arabia's oil capacity by 600,000 barrels a day. If the ceasefire or a lasting peace fails, Venture Global benefits. x.comÂ
Oil is a sell as The Economist's latest cover signals a face-ripping rally in risk assets into year end. The trade is to sell oil and inflation and buy stocks and bonds: the same old boring long-beta trade. x.comÂ
The oil trade is over because crude can no longer make higher highs, even with Middle East crude exports back near their peaks. Oil is trading around its average price of the last eight months and set a lower high in September, so it is only a matter of time before the market gives up. Crude looks about to fall through the floor, with rates following and high-beta stocks then going vertical as every dip gets bought. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Kosmos Energy probably deserves to trade higher because its gas production is priced as a percentage of Brent and growing, a substantial tailwind that leaves it highly geared to the oil strip. With its development program, effective oil reserve life is probably closer to 10 years than 7. Fair value works out to around $4 a share, with a wide range of outcomes. The risk is $2.5 billion of debt at an E&P with declining production and 18 months of lean capex. x.com x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
Exxon Mobil and other critical names that embrace every theme should go vertical, even though hard assets, especially energy, sit in the fog of war and no one wants to chase them. Timing hinges on a late-summer pivot: @radigancarter sees markets front-running it, and winners and losers should be sorted ahead of it. In that shift, duration is torched but bifurcates between abundance and scarcity, convexity is mispriced and beta looks dangerous. x.comÂ
Expand Energy is cheap and pays a good dividend while it waits for its day, and US LNG is in a prime position with Russian and Middle East LNG supplies threatened. The weekly chart is breaking out of a bullish falling wedge within an expanding symmetrical wedge, though the stock is still well below its 30-week EMA, so this is no reason to get too excited yet. x.comÂ
Targa Resources entered the top group of AI-selected US stocks with a score of 92, as a US oil and gas company with strong technicals and massive net profit growth over the past year. Plays like this will likely also be tied to the length and impact of the Iran war. x.comÂ