7 Slick Oil Stocks to Buy Now

The best oil stocks to pursue, for now, are primarily those that have positioned themselves to withstand even more headwinds in the future.

oil rig
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Oil stocks have been pretty slick in 2021, rising sharply in anticipation of a massive recovery in global economic activity as the COVID-19 pandemic fades.

Indeed, oil stocks have been one of the strongest recovery plays to be found – and analysts say the sector has plenty of room left to run.

The Dow Jones U.S. Oil & Gas Index, which measures the performance of nearly three dozen stocks across the industry, was up 27% for the year-to-date through April 19. That compares to a gain of just 10.8% for the broad-market S&P 500, and a rise of 11.3% for the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Of course, not all oil stocks are created equal, and the sector still faces plenty of headwinds. The economic recovery could stumble, for one thing. And even if it doesn't, recovery-chasing increases in production are forecast to limit upside in crude oil prices from current levels.

Despite those challenges, Wall Street is decidedly bullish on oil stocks in general, and really has the hots for a short list of names in particular.

To find analysts' favorite oil stocks to buy now, we screened the Russell 3000 for oil stocks with the highest analyst recommendations, per data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Here's how the recommendation system works. S&P Global Market Intelligence surveys analysts' stock recommendations and scores them on a five-point scale, where 1.0 equals a Strong Buy and 5.0 is a Strong Sell. Any score between 2.5 and 1.5 equals a Buy recommendation. Scores below 1.5 equate to recommendations of Strong Buy.

After limiting ourselves to oil stocks with only the highest conviction Buy or Strong Buy consensus recommendations, we dug into research, fundamental factors and analysts' estimates to suss out the best oil stocks to buy.

With that, have a look at analysts' absolute favorite oil stocks to buy now.

Disclaimer

Share prices are as of April 19, unless otherwise noted. Analysts' consensus recommendations and other data are courtesy of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Stocks are listed by strength of analysts' consensus recommendation, from lowest to highest.

Dan Burrows
Senior Investing Writer, Kiplinger.com

Dan Burrows is Kiplinger's senior investing writer, having joined the august publication full time in 2016.

A long-time financial journalist, Dan is a veteran of SmartMoney, MarketWatch, CBS MoneyWatch, InvestorPlace and DailyFinance. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Consumer Reports, Senior Executive and Boston magazine, and his stories have appeared in the New York Daily News, the San Jose Mercury News and Investor's Business Daily, among other publications. As a senior writer at AOL's DailyFinance, Dan reported market news from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and hosted a weekly video segment on equities.

Once upon a time – before his days as a financial reporter and assistant financial editor at legendary fashion trade paper Women's Wear Daily – Dan worked for Spy magazine, scribbled away at Time Inc. and contributed to Maxim magazine back when lad mags were a thing. He's also written for Esquire magazine's Dubious Achievements Awards.

In his current role at Kiplinger, Dan writes about equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities, funds, macroeconomics, demographics, real estate, cost of living indexes and more.

Dan holds a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College and a master's degree from Columbia University.

Disclosure: Dan does not trade stocks or other securities. Rather, he dollar-cost averages into cheap funds and index funds and holds them forever in tax-advantaged accounts.