Forget Tech, Energy Is Where 'The Puck Is Headed' And This Stock Is Popping After The 'Fast Money Halftime Report' Panel Talked It Up

Tech is where the puck has been, but energy is where the puck is going, according to one investor who just bought shares of Transocean Ltd RIG.

What Happened: Thursday on CNBC's "Fast Money Halftime Report," Ritholtz Wealth Management's Josh Brown made the case that Transocean shares are set to ride a wave of buying higher.

The rest of the Halftime Report panel broadly agreed with the call. 

"When you look at the technicals here, this is a stock that has bottomed out and has been consolidating for quite some time. It is now snapping this very, very long-term downtrend," Brown said. 

Most of Transocean's competition has gone bankrupt so there are very few pure-play deepwater drilling stocks left out there, he said, although he acknowledged that there are some other well-managed companies still left in the space. 

RIG has the most to gain by day rates going higher and that's what he's betting on. 

"The tailwind that they are going to have in the second half of the year, in my view, puts them in a position for the first time in a long time to fix the balance sheet and start producing upside surprises," Brown said. 

Transocean shares were once trading around $130 per share before the great financial crisis hit in 2008. The stock has been stuck in a long-term downtrend since, sinking alongside declining oil prices.

From Last Month: RIG Is Drilling Higher: What's Going On With Transocean Stock?

Cerity Partners' Jim Lebenthal has been holding shares of Transocean for a couple of years, but not for technical reasons. 

"It's great whenever I'm on the same side as Josh. That feels very comforting. But it's even more comforting when the technicals shake hands with the fundamentals, which is what you've got going on here," Lebenthal said on the show. 

There are a very small number of deepwater drilling rigs in the world and only about two-thirds of Transocean's rigs are under contract. The other dozen or so are idle, he said. 

"They're going to get these 12 rigs off of coldstack, maybe not all at once, but over the next six to 12 months, and their EBITDA is going to just leap up," Lebenthal stressed. 

Gilman Hill Asset Management's Jenny Harrington doesn't own Transocean because it doesn't pay a big enough dividend, but she agreed with the other two panelists that energy is the space investors want to target. 

Related Link: Check Out 3 Energy Stocks With Over 3% Dividend Yields From Wall Street's Most Accurate Analysts

IShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF IEO is representative of the broader oil and gas exploration space. It's been on fire over the last month, trading from around the $85 level to above $97 at last check. 

Brown chimed back in the conversation and emphasized that there are a lot of different ways to win in energy. 

"Broadly speaking, it makes sense to me that energy is where the puck is headed," Brown said.

RIG Price Action: Transocean shares were up 0.78% at $8.44 at the time of publication Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: Kristina Kasputienė from Pixabay.