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Boost Your Portfolio With These 3 Natural Gas Explorers

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Being a cleanest burning fossil fuel, natural gas is on track to witness increasing demand. The commodity is being used for various purposes starting from heating homes and for industrial, residential and commercial activities. With high demand, it is expected that the pricing scenario for the commodity will remain favorable, encouraging investors to bet on upstream players.

High Gas Price

The price of natural gas is trading higher than $7 per million British thermal unit (MMBtu), marking a massive improvement in the past year. The pricing scenario will be promising if the demand for the commodity remains favorable. The commodity is being used across all the sectors in the United States at a higher pace. Increasing economic activities have already led to the ramp of natural gas consumption in the industrial sector.

Residential and commercial sectors are also witnessing higher uses of natural gas. In the United States, the consumption of natural gas will likely increase 3% in 2022 to 85.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), per the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

E&P Players to Gain

Rising gas price is expected to be favorable for energy companies involved in natural gas exploration and production (E&P) activities. To capitalize on high gas price, E&P companies have been adding rigs to gas-rich resources since the beginning of the year.  

Since selecting the right companies with a footprint in the prolific gas plays is not an easy task, we are employing our proprietary Stock Screener to zero down on three stocks that are poised to gain. Two of the stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while one carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Antero Resources (AR - Free Report) is a leading upstream energy player with a strong presence in the gas-rich prolific Appalachian Basin in West Virginia and Ohio. In the past 30 days, Antero Resources has witnessed upward earnings estimate revisions for 2022 and 2023.

The substantial exposure to improving commodity price is a huge positive for #1 Ranked Antero Resources. AR’s production outlook seems bright, given that the firm has more than 20 years of premium drilling inventories. 

Comstock Resources (CRK - Free Report) is a well-known name in the upstream space, with operations across the gas-rich Haynesville shale in North Louisiana and East Texas. The substantial exposure to improving commodity price is a huge positive for Comstock.

In the past 30 days, Comstock has witnessed upward earnings estimate revisions for 2022 and 2023. Through 2024, Zacks #2 Ranked CRK aims to generate a free cash flow of $2 billion to $3 billion.

Favorable commodity prices are also a huge positive for Southwestern Energy (SWN - Free Report) since it is a leading natural gas producer in the United States. In the past 30 days, Southwestern Energy has witnessed upward earnings estimate revisions for 2022 and 2023.

For this year, it is likely to see earnings growth of 46.7%. SWN, with Zacks Rank of 2, is gaining from deep Tier 1 inventory along with a sound financial and credit profile.


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Comstock Resources, Inc. (CRK) - free report >>

Southwestern Energy Company (SWN) - free report >>

Antero Resources Corporation (AR) - free report >>

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