Oil Stocks to Buy as Gas Prices Plunge

Editor's Note: Jon D. Markman writes a weekly column for CNBC on MSN Money that is republished here on TheStreet.com.

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Crude-oil prices have plunged in the past four months by 25%, a move that has punished energy speculators, delighted SUV owners and pushed alternative-power ideas to the back burner.

If you think the price plunge is too good to be true, you're on to something. Analysts who have been around the block a few times say we almost certainly have not heard the last from the folks who brought us $4-a-gallon prices at the pump -- and suggest you make plans now to deal with another round of energy shocks over the next year.

It's not my job to recommend that you trade in your Hummer for a pair of walking shoes while the used-car market is hot. But I can strenuously recommend that you consider buying shares of some of the energy stocks now while they are on sale.

You might not like the idea of investing in opportunistic profiteers such as Exxon Mobil(XOM Quote), which earned a mind-blowing $10.5 billion in the third quarter on $99.6 billion in sales. But there are many other energy stocks that are less offensive and look like compelling bargains right now. With any luck, they'll help you counterbalance nasty fuel-price increases in 2007 with nice investment-portfolio gains.

Before going on to my picks, though, I need you to lift your head up out of the present and gaze to the horizon. Don't look at the month-to-month changes in crude-oil prices -- which are governed by all kinds of crazy short-term factors, including U.S. electoral politics, Nigerian hostage crises and the weather -- and instead focus on a set of indisputable facts:

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