Take A Look At These Oil Names

Investors should consider adding oil to their portfolios. To build a position in the oil sector, investors should divide capital between a number of companies in order to reduce company specific risk. This is similar to buying an ETF such as the Oil Service HOLDRs ETF OIH, but allows you to pick the specific component companies. Interesting oil service stocks to look at include Halliburton HAL, Schlumberger SLB, and Transocean RIG. Halliburton (HAL), for example, has lost 10% on the 3-month chart, but has surged over 25% in the last month alone. The same phenomenon can be witnessed in Transocean (RIG), which has fallen 40% over the last 3 months, but gained over 20% in the last month. Another name that looks very interesting is Anadarko Petroleum APC, which is an exploration and production company, which owns a 25% non-operating stake in the BP well. A shift in sentiment is clearly taking place in APC.