Out Fox The $treet

WPX Energy continues making progress towards becoming a diversified energy producer. The E&P firm is still more impacted by the price of natural gas taking a big hit from the price decline in that commodity. The company has some interesting negative implications for oil. Investors should remain focused on WPX Energy for the catalysts related to natural gas. WPX Energy (NYSE: WPX ) surprised investors with a second straight quarterly profit that substantially beat analyst estimates. As with all other E&P firms, WPX faces a tough market with the collapsing community landscape. The energy producer is making huge progress transitioning to liquids production, but it still faces a natural gas future. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long WPX. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Since its spinoff from Williams Companies ( NYSE: WMB     ) , WPX Energy ( NYSE: WPX     ) has struggled with low natural gas prices and weak production numbers. Surprising to some in the market, the company reported a large first-quarter profit that smashed low estimates even though the company didn't achieve any surprise production numbers. In fact, the production numbers beat forecasts while still showing year-over-year and sequential declines. The results for WPX Energy were solid based on factors beyond the company's control and show how the market is bigger than any management team. Despite the shift of capital spending to oil, WPX Energy still obtains nearly 80% of production from natural gas. Along with a company like Chesapeake Energy ( NYSE: CHK     ) , higher natural gas prices will solve most of the ailments that these companies have faced in the last couple of years. Read the full article here . Disclo...

Several years after a promising spinoff from Williams Companies ( NYSE: WMB     ) , WPX Energy ( NYSE: WPX     ) is still struggling to build a growing production base. The E&P has hit some prolific wells in the Niobrara Shale, yet issues in the Marcellus combined with declining legacy fields have left the company bumping along the bottom. At the time of the spinoff, WPX Energy reached production levels of 1,308 MMcfe/d and forecasted that the 13% annual production growth would continue. The guidance for 2014 again shows a natural gas producer stuck in its tracks. This is in contrast to  Range Resources Corporation ( NYSE: RRC     ) , which continues to produce higher volumes and ramp up proven reserves in the very region where WPX Energy is having the most problems. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long WPX. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The prolonged cold snap in the U.S. has pushed natural gas prices toward multi-year highs around $4.40/btu. At the same time, most of the domestic exploration and production firms sit below the highs from back in 2011 when the S&P 500 was at considerably lower levels. The combination could present a buying opportunity for the domestic natural gas producers including Chesapeake Energy ( NYSE: CHK     ) , SandRidge Energy ( NYSE: SD     ) , and WPX Energy ( NYSE: WPX     ) to name a few that are intriguing.   Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long WPX. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

WPX Energy ( NYSE: WPX     ) continues to build the foundation for growth, yet the improvements aren't showing up in recent results. Like any oil and gas exploration and production company trying to turn around operations, any gains in the short term can quickly be offset by declining production from old wells. Until the company can drill enough new wells, the positive results can be hidden, as is the case with WPX Energy. The first quarter sequential gain in natural gas production is a signal that WPX has finally turned the corner. Combined with a substantial increase in oil production, the company is set to benefit from the suddenly surging natural gas prices and stubbornly high oil prices. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please read the disclaimer page for more details. 

Nearly two years after being spun off from Williams Companies ( NYSE: WMB     ) , WPX Energy ( NYSE: WPX     ) is finally seeing decent stock gains. The large natural gas producer has been pushing toward drilling for oil, but ironically a massive natural gas find places this stock on a path to huge reserve growth. Compared to other natural gas producers such as Range Resources ( NYSE: RRC     ) and Southwestern Energy ( NYSE: SWN     ) , the stock trades at sub-par multiples. Due to the massive well in the Niobrara shale called the 'beast,' it could finally be back on a growth trajectory. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Interesting video by WPX Energy (WPX) on the massive natural gas well called the Niobrara Beast. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

As the Federal Reserve hints at tapering the bond buying program over the next year, cyclical stocks including energy exploration and production firms should become interesting buys. These stocks have underperformed the market rally over the last year as investors have piled into high yielding stocks as bond yields hit extremely low levels. Now that money should flood out of those stocks and bonds into growth stocks. The main reason more » Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Read the disclosure page for more details. 

Last week WPX Energy (NYSE: WPX ) announced a discovery in the Niobrara shale that might ultimately double the current 18 Tcfe of natural gas 3P reserves. The discovery well produced an initial high of 16 Mcfe per day suggesting that reserves in the area are much higher than expected. The company is one of the largest leaseholders in the Niobrara/Mancos shales that underlie the companies expansive leasehold position in more » Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Part I of this series focused on the continual reduction of rigs exploring for natural gas in the domestic U.S. lower 48. All the while, commodity prices continue to surge upward with futures prices even higher. This second part will focus on the natural gas producers that will benefit from the surging prices and the potential that a great majority of the rigs needed to increase production are tied up with oil drilling. As mentioned in Part I, the Baker Hughes (BHI) rig report on Friday showed an interesting divergence with the commodity markets. While natural gas has jumped some 60% in the past few months, the amount of rigs drilling for natural gas has plunged to lows not seen since 1999. In the last week, the natural gas rig count dropped another 15 to only 422. Last year, the count was 936. Recently Forbes released an article describing the depletion curve in the Eagle Ford as higher than expected. Not only does this change the investment thesis on some of the shale plays, but it ...

After reporting earnings on Thursday night, SandRidge Energy (SD) dropped 3% even as the market soared on Friday thanks to the bullish jobs report. For some reason the market was disappointed with a forecasted increase in capital spending while oil approaches $91. The company is an oil and natural gas exploration and production company focused on the Mississippian, Permian Basin, and now Gulf of Mexico. The market is very focused on reduced spending in the domestic natural gas sector that any added spending is seen as negative. Though natural gas still struggles around $3, the market is missing that oil remains strong. Why wouldn't an oil exploration company attempt to produce more oil at these prices? Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Not that the expectations are for natural gas prices to remain this low until 2015, but this is when the real possibility of the US exporting natural gas begins. Until then the possibility remains that the new shale production techniques will keep production ahead of domestic demand and prices low. Without a serious energy policy to utilize this increased resource, it is very probable that this country will begin exporting our cheap energy supplies to Europe and Asia while still importing expensive oil and gasoline. That is assuming the big producers of natural gas remain in business in a subdued pricing environment. The main catalyst for the focus on surviving until 2015 was the huge announcement yesterday that Blackstone would invest $2B in Cheniere Energy Partners (CQP) to provide the equity financing needed for the construction of export facilities at the Sabane Pass liquefaction project in Lousiana. This will be the first natural gas liquefaction export facility in the continental...

The major difference between an IPO and a spin-off is that one gets major media 'spin', while the other can be vastly ignored. The lack of a major financial transaction-- and hence, fees-- tends to reduce the push by investment houses. Just by viewing articles posted on this very website one can quickly derive that the general public has less interests in spin-offs versus IPOs, to their own detriment. This provides a major advantage to alert investors. Outside the major spin-offs, like the upcoming ones at Kraft (KFT) and ConnocoPhillips (COP), the others fall under the radar by the investing community. Historically, spin-offs have provided solid returns for savvy investors. This is partly due to investors ignoring or not understanding the new security, but also because spin-offs allow both the parent and the spun off company to thrive, with each management team free to focus on its direct business. A few interesting spin-offs took place around year-end to little or no fanfare....