The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Braskem, World Point Terminals, Enbridge, Murphy USA And Ocean Rig

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 08, 2016 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Braskem SA (BAK), World Point Terminals L.P. (WPT), Enbridge Inc. (ENB), Murphy USA Inc. ( MUSA) and Ocean Rig UDW LLC (ORIG).

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Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

5 Energy Growth Stocks to Invest In

Oil prices are bouncing back on subsiding fears about the effects of Brexit – the short way of saying Britain’s exit from the EU – on crude demand. A weaker dollar, which made the greenback-priced crude cheaper for investors holding foreign currency, also lent support. Last month’s Brexit bombshell surprised investors and sent the commodity to a seven-week low on a strengthening dollar and fears of a global economic slowdown.

In any case, the U.K. constitutes a miniscule 1.6% of global crude demand, so the commodity is unlikely to be too affected by a Brexit vote. Moreover, with core oil fundamentals still unchanged and signs of improving U.S. economy, the commodity is well set for a long-term recovery though one might have to wait for the dust to settle.

The Crude Rally

Crude prices, which reached $110 per barrel in mid-2014, fell to a 12-year low of $26.21 in February as investors worried about the oversupplied market. The commodity’s collapse threatened the industry’s creditworthiness by hurting cash flows, drying up liquidity and pummeling producer’s profit margins.

However, indications that supply was easing helped oil prices rebound some 90% since then.

The surge in benchmark crude is being driven by supply outages in Nigeria, Libya, Venezuela and Canada – countries that hold some of the world’s major sources of crude.

The upward pressure in oil prices also reflect the U.S. Energy Department's recent inventory releases that show crude stockpile builds turning into draws. Things have been further helped by a continued decline in U.S. crude production and drop in oil-directed rigs – indicating a break in shale drilling activities.

All's Not Well, Though

The million dollar question now is whether the rally marks the beginning of a powerful turnaround in oil prices on the back of deep cuts from explorers, or a temporary surge based on optimistic forecasts.

Despite oil’s massive recovery since February, it’s still under $50 – about half the level of two years ago – and far below the breakeven price for many energy companies. Therefore, the commodity is not yet out of the woods and record high inventories amid robust production could still push it to the depths of multiyear lows.

Even the industry, which is cutting deeper, seems to think so. Companies around the world continue to slash jobs, defer/cancel projects worth billions of dollars and renegotiate contracts with suppliers to help protect their balance sheets.

To sum up, even as crude prices continue to make their way up, world oil supply remains in a glut and is likely to remain so through 2016. This might make any oil price strength short-lived.

Confused? Bank on a Proper Strategy

The uncertainty of oil prices means that the future direction of the commodity’s movement is anybody's guess. However, fundamentals suggest that the odds are firmly stacked against a sustained rally and point toward sideways-to-flat crude price expectation. In fact, some industry observers feel that the door is open for one more retest of the recent multi-year lows.

On the contrary though, the commodity’s recovery to $50, predictably, has had a positive effect on stocks in the sector. In particular, savvy investors might view the price bump as the impetus the stocks need after freefalling for two years. Undoubtedly, still a long way to go, but improving crude prices may have already primed certain oil producers and linked entities for upward momentum.

However, if we pick an investing strategy, according to our requirements and risk appetite, it will definitely lower the possibility of losses. Growth investing is one of the most popular stock selection techniques.

Growth investing, as the name suggests, offers a higher growth potential to the investors compared to other stocks in the same category. A feature of growth stocks is that they prefer to utilize the retained earnings in capital growth projects to churn out new products and develop new technology rather than making a dividend payment.

Here Are the Stocks

Now selecting the right growth stock among the existing choices can really be a challenging task. Finding a correct growth stock for your portfolio is made easy by our new style score system.

In particular, our Growth Style Score condenses all the essential metrics from a company’s financial statements to get a true sense of the quality and sustainability of its growth. Our research shows that stocks with a Growth Style Score of ‘A’ or ‘B’ when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 (Buy) offer the best investment opportunities in the growth investing space.

Braskem SA (BAK): Together with its subsidiaries, Braskem SA produces and sells thermoplastic resins. Headquartered in Brazil, the company is the largest petrochemical operation in Latin America.

Zacks Rank #1

Growth Score: A

World Point Terminals L.P. (WPT): St. Louis, MO-based World Point Terminals is involved in operations like development and acquisition of storage terminals for crude oil.

Zacks Rank #1

Growth Score: B

Enbridge Inc. (ENB): Based in Calgary, Canada, Enbridge is an energy transportation and distribution company with operations in North America and internationally.

Zacks Rank #2

Growth Score: A

Murphy USA Inc. (MUSA): El Dorado, Arkansas-headquartered Murphy USA is a retailer of gasoline products and convenience store merchandise primarily in the US.

Zacks Rank #2

Growth Score: B

Ocean Rig UDW LLC (ORIG): Nicosia, Cyprus-headquartered Ocean Rig mainly provides services related to offshore drilling to the upstream energy players. The company’s drilling units specialize in operating in harsh-environment.

Zacks Rank #2

Growth Score: B

Bottom Line

With energy prices picking up steam, this is the perfect time to indulge in growth stocks to make sure your portfolio is perfectly oiled up! While we keep our fingers crossed for a profitable second half, let these hot bets with their strong ranks and growth scores spell magical returns for you.

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Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

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