Crude oil currently trades above $58 per barrel and its current price is 26% higher than it was at the beginning of the year, which provided a good foundation for some energy stocks to thrive and deliver strong total returns to investors.
This list offers five energy stocks that have provided robust total returns over the last 12 months or have recovered from a pullback early in the trailing one-year period to deliver strong rising trends at the end.
5 Energy Stocks with Robust One-Year Total Returns: #5
BHP Group Plc (NYSE:BBL)
Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, and incorporated in 1885, the BHP Group engages in exploration of natural resources and production of basic materials. In addition to petroleum exploration and production, the company also engages in mining of copper, silver, zinc, molybdenum, uranium, gold and iron ore, as well as metallurgical and energy coal.
While suffering substantial losses in late 2014 and 2015, the company’s share price has nearly tripled since January 2016. The share price entered the trailing 12-month period on a brief downtrend and declined nearly 4% before bottoming out at its 52-week low of $38.24. After some volatility influenced by the overall market correction in late 2018, the share price began rising at the end of November 2018. By July 2, 2019, the share price had risen more than 35% to peak at its 52-week high of $51.81.
Since peaking in July, the share price has given back some of those gains to close at the end of trading on September 19, 2019, at $44.84. While down 13.5% from the July peak, the September 19 price was still 4% higher than one year earlier and more than 17% above the 52-week low from late October 2018.
5 Energy Stocks with Robust One-Year Total Returns: #4
Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1936, Kinder Morgan, Inc. operates as an energy infrastructure company in North America. While not involved in oil production and refining directly, Kinder Morgan, a provider of oil storage and transportation infrastructure, suffered a similar share price decline to the petroleum production and refining companies.
Kinder Morgan’s share price lost more than 70% of its value between April 2015 and the end of January 2016. However, the share price has nearly doubled since reversing trend in early 2016. On the tail end of trading flat for all 2017 and most of 2018, the share price pulled back approximately 18% during the first quarter of the trailing one-year period. The share price reversed this downtrend after reaching its 52-week low of $14.71 on December 24, 2018.
However, the share price gained more than 45% before reaching its 52-week high of $21.38 on June 21, 2019. Since peaking in mid-June, the share price traded relatively flat and closed at the end of trading on September 19, 2019, at $20.67. While only 3.3% down from the June peak, the September 19 closing price marked a 14.6% gain over the trailing 12 months and was 40% higher than the 52-week low from late December 2018.
5 Energy Stocks with Robust One-Year Total Returns: #3
Phillips 66 Partners LP (NYSE:PSXP)
Phillips 66 Partners LP owns, operates, develops and acquires crude oil, refined petroleum products and natural gas liquids (NGL) pipelines and terminals, as well as other transportation and midstream assets. The company’s current share price is approximately one-third below the all-time high of more than $78 in early 2015. However, after riding a steady downtrend for a couple of years, the share price has reversed trend and delivered strong gains for shareholders.
Pushed by the downward pressure of the overall market correction in the last quarter of 2018, the share price shed more than 18% of its value between the onset of the trailing 12-month period and its 52-week low of $42.04 on December 28, 2018. After reaching this low, the share price recovered all those losses in the first quarter of 2019 and continued to rise. The share price reached its 52-week high of $58.30 on September 16, 2019, which was nearly 40% above the 52-week low from late December 2019.
After reaching its 52-week high, the share price closed slightly lower on September 19, 2019, at $58.08. Only 0.4% below the 52-week high, this closing price was 12.7% higher than it was one year earlier and 38% above the 52-week low from the end of 2018.
5 Energy Stocks with Robust One-Year Total Returns: #2
CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CVI)
Based in Sugar Land, Texas, and founded in 1906, CVR Energy, Inc. is a petroleum refining company with facilities in Kansas and Oklahoma. In addition to its transportation fuels production, the company also manufactures nitrogen fertilizers.
Like many other refining operations, CVR Energy saw its share price plummet after oil prices began crashing in 2013. While share prices of many peers bottomed out by mid-2015 and began their recoveries, CVR’s share price did not reach its bottom until late 2016. However, since bottoming out in October 2016, CVR’s share price has been on a rising trend.
Amid the overall market correction in late 2018, the share price experienced a 20% pullback at the beginning of the trailing 12-month period on the way to its 52-week low if $30.47 on December 24, 2018. However, since reversing direction, the share price recovered those losses by the end of January 2019 and gained more than 80% before reaching its 52-week high of $55.17 on July 27, 2019.
After peaking, the share price gave back some of the gains but has risen almost 15% since the beginning of September 2019. The $44.17 closing price on September 19, 2019, was 15.4% higher than it was one year earlier and 45% above the 52-week low from late December 2018.
5 Energy Stocks with Robust One-Year Total Returns: #1
Cosan Ltd. (NYSE:CZZ)
Headquartered in Sao Paolo, Brazil, Cosan Ltd. engages in fuel and natural gas distribution and ethanol production and distribution, as well as logistics and lubricant businesses. The company’s Raízen Energia division produces and markets products derived from sugar cane, including manufacturing of hydrated ethanol and other energy cogeneration from sugarcane bagasse.
The share price declined from its peak above $20 in April 2013 to less than $3 by September 2015. However, after bottoming out in late 2015, the share price reversed direction and has advanced more than fivefold since then. After experiencing another pullback in the first three quarters of 2018, the share price reversed direction in early September and entered the trailing 12-month period on an uptrend.
After passing through its 52-week low on October 1, 2018, the share price advanced nearly 130% before reaching its 52-week high of $15.32 on September 12, 2019. Since peaking in mid-September, the share price pulled back 2.3% to close at the end of trading on September 19, 2019, at $14.96. While slightly lower than the 52-week high, the September 19 closing price was still nearly 110% higher than it was one year earlier, as well as 123% above the 52-week low from the beginning of October 2018.
The steep share price decline from 2013 to 2015 limited the five-year total returns to less than 30%. However, the share price resurgence during the past 12 months delivered to shareholders total returns of 117% over the trailing 12 months and 124% over the last three years.
Ned Piplovic is the assistant editor of website content at Eagle Financial Publications. He graduated from Columbia University with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Philosophy. Prior to joining Eagle, Ned spent 15 years in corporate operations and financial management. Ned writes for www.DividendInvestor.com and www.StockInvestor.com.
