Seven Dividend-Paying Oil Stocks and Funds to Buy Amid COVID-19 Recovery

Seven dividend-paying oil stocks and funds to buy amid the ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic have the potential to help investors to profit through short-term trades and long-term patience.

All seven of the dividend-paying oil stocks and funds will receive a lift from rising prices for crude as economic activity revs up in states around the nation that are lifting restrictions imposed by their governors in March after the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths began to surge. With the economy starting to strengthen as non-essential businesses reopen to spur energy demand, crude oil prices rose to a 3-1/2 month high on June 23.

However, crude inventories posted a new record high on June 24 for the third straight week when the U.S. Energy Information Administration released its weekly Petroleum Status Report. That announcement caused a one-day dip in the price of dividend-paying oil stocks and funds, followed by a further retreat through Friday, June 26,, so patience could be a virtue for investors who wait for the downtrend to stop before buying.

7 Dividend-Paying Oil Stocks and Funds to Buy After Historic Mid-April Price Plunge

Oil prices, based on the WTI Crude Oil Spot Price, have dropped 38.23% during the past five years and endured a short-term crash in April 2020, when futures contracts for May delivery hit a historic low by plunging more than 100% to -$37.63 per barrel on April 20. That pricing meant producers literally needed to pay traders to take the oil off their hands when demand collapsed due to the COVID-19 crisis.

In contrast, the technology-heavy NASDAQ Composite emerged as the big winner during the past five years by soaring 96.57%, more than twice the gains of 47.50% for the S&P 500, of 46.41% for SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE:GLD) and of 44.35% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) added 8.01%, but it only equaled 8.29% of the rise of the NASDAQ Composite during that time.

Chart Courtesy of www.YCharts.com

7 Dividend-Paying Oil Stocks and Funds to Buy Include EPD

Investors who like income may want to buy shares of Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) and collect its current dividend yield of 9.82%. EPD has been a recommendation in the Forecasts & Strategies investment newsletter of Mark Skousen, PhD, since December 2009 and has risen more than 120% since that time.

“The Houston-based pipeline and storage company has survived and prospered through a treacherous collapse in energy prices,” Skousen wrote in his just-completed July issue.

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

Even though the share price of EPD has pulled back 20.98% between June 8 and June 16, it still offers a quarterly distribution of 67 cents per unit. However, 2020 is the year in more than a decade that EPD has not raised its dividend.

Mark Skousen, a descendant of Benjamin Franklin, meets with Paul Dykewicz in Philadelphia. Skousen’s premium investment services consist of Home Run Trader, Five Star Trader, TNT Trader and Fast Money Alert.

Cabot Oil & Gas Is Another of the 7 Dividend-Paying Oil Stocks and Funds to Buy

Skousen, an economist, partners with stock picker Jim Woods on the Fast Money Alert advisory service and they recently recommended Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE:COG), an oil and gas exploration and production company. Cabot Oil & Gas offers some diversification because it holds huge reserves of natural gas totaling approximately 12,903 billion cubic feet, along with roughly 22,000 barrels of oil or other liquid hydrocarbons.

Thus, the company is not solely dependent on oil prices to thrive, but it is affected by natural gas market fluctuations. Natural gas prices fell 2.7% on June 23, after news from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) that liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports declined substantially in 2020. On Friday, June 26, natural gas prices fell to a new 25-year nearest-futures low on robust supplies and slack demand.

“A mild winter and COVID-19 mitigation efforts have led to declining global natural gas demand and high natural gas storage inventories in Europe and Asia, reducing the need for LNG imports,” the EIA reported on June 23. “Historically low natural gas and LNG spot prices in Europe and Asia have affected the economic viability of U.S. LNG exports.”

The lack of demand for LNG exports, coupled with slack demand for electricity, has put substantial pressure on natural gas prices. The share price of Cabot Oil & Gas has dropped 25.93% between June 8 and June 26, even though crude oil prices hit a 3 ½-month high on June 23.

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

Woods, who heads the Successful Investing, Intelligence Report and Bullseye Stock Trader advisory services, told me he likes to use relative price strength when choosing his recommendations. He emphasizes that method in his premium Bullseye Stock Trader advisory service, he added.

Paul Dykewicz meets with Jim Woods before COVID-19 to discuss new investment ideas.

Cohen & Steers MLP Makes 7 Dividend-Paying Oil Stocks and Funds to Buy

Bob Carlson, leader of the Retirement Watch advisory service and chairman of the Board of Trustees of Virginia’s Fairfax County Employees’ Retirement System with more than $4 billion in assets, recently recommended Cohen & Steers MLP & Energy Opportunity (NASDAQ:MLOAX). The fund gain about 25% from May 12 through June 8 before plunging in the June 11 market selloff.

It is down 6.4% for the last month, 30.05% for the past three months and 3.44%% for the year to date. The fund’s current dividend yield is 7.90%.

MLOAX invests primarily in companies that provide midstream energy services, such as pipelines and storage tanks. Prices of these investments declined sharply because of the “dual catastrophes” of the oil price war and the coronavirus pandemic, Carlson analyzed.

“Energy prices seem to have hit a bottom, and there’s been a surge in these investments,” Carlson continued. “Even after the surge, they have a lot of room to the upside.”

As an actively managed fund, MLOAX can focus on the investments in each sector with the best fundamentals and values. After the oil price plunge, the fund began favoring companies likely to withstand a severe downturn, while avoiding overleveraged firms and those with weak balance sheets. It also increased its positions in Canadian companies because they are more insulated from global price shocks.

Pension fund Chairman Bob Carlson answers questions from Paul Dykewicz during an interview before social distancing became the norm after the outbreak of COVID-19.

Oil, based on the WTI Crude Oil Spot Price, slid 39.37 since the start of 2020, trailing even the money-losing Dow Jones Industrial Average, down 8.35%, and the S&P 500, dipping 3.08%. Gold, using SPDR Gold as a proxy, rose 16.43% so far in 2020 through June 23, topping the NASDAQ Composite, up 12.91%, and the iShares Silver Trust, nosing ahead 0.30%.

Chart Courtesy of www.YCharts.com

Supply Side Economics Affect 7 Dividend-Paying Oil Stocks and Funds to Buy

“Energy is all about the supply side economics right now, said Hilary Kramer, host of a national radio program called “Millionaire Maker” and head of the Value Authority and GameChangers advisory services. “A demand recovery will feel fantastic, but the real story is the chill on North American drilling, where rig counts have dropped to the lowest level on record and keeps declining week after week.”

The drilling reductions reflect oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) companies sacrificing five years of planning to “survive” and it is not really the kind of environment that tends to reward investors with medium-term time horizons, Kramer continued.

“If you’re bullish on oil, buy for the long term and don’t even look at it for the next five years,” Kramer said. “While production volumes might come back faster, don’t count on it. Buy big for that marathon race. You’ll be able to get smaller and more innovative names cheaper as we move toward the recovery.”

Chevron, ConocoPhillps Among 7 Dividend-Paying Oil Stocks and Funds to Buy

Prospective oil stocks to consider include Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX), ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE:EOG), Kramer said. Each of them pays a dividend to offer investors yields of 5.78% in CVX, 3.99% in COP and 2.96% in EOG.

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

“You just want a sustainable business model and a proxy on crude upside,” Kramer said. “What you do not want is an overextended balance sheet that might not survive to see the recovery. Again, you’ll be able to overweight innovation later.”

Trading Avenues Exist Outside 7 Oil Dividend-Paying Stocks and Funds to Buy

There also is nothing wrong with capitalizing on the volatility of oil and gas prices through quick trades, Kramer said.

“Just be sure to flip your positions fast,” Kramer counseled. “We’ve made people a lot of money in the last few months simply going long on key stocks and ETFs and cashing out after a few days or at most weeks.”

One trade produced nearly a 30% in just four days by recommending ProShares Ultra Oil & Gas (NYSE:DIG), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that seeks a return of twice its underlying benchmark, the Dow Jones U.S. Oil & Gas Index. That leveraged trade recommended in her Turbo Trader advisory service hinged on a belief that oil prices had at least bottomed out. Even though the recommendation was short-lived, DIG offers a current dividend yield of 3.05% for income investors who may want to take double the bullish bet that oil and gas are on the ascent.

“Keep the money moving while supply and demand sort themselves out,” Kramer concluded.

Columnist and author Paul Dykewicz interviews money manager Hilary Kramer, whose premium advisory services included 2-Day Trader, IPO Edge, Turbo Trader, High Octane Trader and Inner Circle.

Sunoco Joins 7 Dividend-Paying Oil Stocks and Funds to Buy

Bryan Perry, who leads the Cash Machine, Premium Income, Quick Income Trader, Hi-Tech Trader and Breakout Profits Alert advisory services, currently recommends oil refiner Sunoco L.P. (NYSE:SUN). The company’s dividend yield has reached a lofty 13.33% and Perry is a stickler for dropping any recommendations that cannot support their payouts.

Perry told me during a phone interview that he is bullish on oil refiners since their stock prices are not as affected by reductions in WTI crude oil prices as drillers. Sunoco is a well-established refiner of gasoline and diesel, he added.

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

One recent short-term options trade that paid off for Perry took place in his Breakout Profits Alert advisory service when he recommended the Energy Select Sector Energy SPDR ETF (XLE) Jan. 21, 2022, $30 Calls. He explained when he announced the trade on April 1 that he expected President Trump’s intervention to lead to a pact by OPEC, Russia and non-OPEC nations to limit production and let oil prices recover. Once the deal was reached, Perry advised the sale of the call options less than two weeks later on April 13 to take profits of 43.50%.

Bank of America Report Predicts a Potential 50% Oil Price Rise by 2021

For patient investors, Bank of America released a new research report that forecasted the price of Brent crude oil could climb to $60 in 2021 partly due to a rebound in demand. The price of Brent crude oil on June 26 reached $40.67, slightly above the $38.49 price of WTI crude oil.

The Bank of America forecast indicates that investors willing to wait at least a year could enjoy respectable returns. If its outlook for a potential 50% price in oil prices proves true, investors who purchase their favorites among the seven dividend-paying oil stocks and funds to buy could be pleased with their returns.

But COVID-19 remains a scourge that has led to 9,778,674 cases and 494,181 deaths worldwide, along with 2,467,554 cases and 125,039 deaths in the United States, as of June 26, according to Johns Hopkins University. A one-day spike in cases occurred in Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Tennessee and Utah on June 26, following recent public protests and opening of businesses and activities in which many people shunned using protective masks and social distancing recommended by public health experts.

America has more than double as many cases and deaths of any other nation, including China, where COVID-19 originated.

These seven dividend-paying oil stocks and funds to buy provide investors with a chance to profit from the recovery of oil prices, shrinking supply and growing demand as economic activity returns after countries around the world locked down non-essential businesses and idled a large percentage of workers. Investors who may follow the Wall Street adage of “sell in May and go away” would have missed out on last month’s market resurgence but there still is time to buy dividend-paying oil stocks and funds which have started to climb again.