Big Oil Has Become Too Hard
This column was originally published on RealMoney on March 6 at 11:50 a.m. EST. It's being republished as a bonus for TheStreet.com readers.
At what point do people just say, "Owning oil's too hard?"
I believe that point is rapidly approaching. Despite my affinity for the group, it's just playing too much havoc with performance.
I thought of that this weekend when I recognized that almost none of the stocks that
Investor's Business Daily
focuses on in its 100 list is still oil. The momentum is gone, courtesy of the endless backing and filling. The incredible decline in natural gas has made people feel that the whole run has been an aberration. Which is too bad, because that's just untrue. But fighting it has been way too hard.
Here's what I would do going forward: Pick one driller, pick one oil and trade around them. I am picking
Occidental
(OXY) - Get Occidental Petroleum Corporation Report
and
Halliburton
(HAL) - Get Halliburton Company Report
for
Action Alerts PLUS. I also like
Amerada Hess
(AHC) - Get A.H. Belo Corporation Class A Report
TheStreet Recommends
,
Schlumberger
(SLB) - Get Schlumberger NV Report
and
Transocean
(RIG) - Get Transocean Ltd. Report
as well as
Ultra Petroleum
undefined
. I would make sure you have a little on the sheets of these at all times and buy them on days like today.
But the big oil thesis has become too hard, and to not recognize it is to court underperformance against both the
Dow
and the
S&P 500
for the foreseeable future.
Which we know in this game is the
only
future.
Random musings:
Are you ready,
radio listeners? I'm on the air one hour earlier, 1-2 p.m. EST, starting today. Be sure to tune in at the right time -- and to call me at my new number, 1-800-743-4443.
P.S. from TheStreet.com Editor-in-Chief, Dave Morrow:
It's always been my opinion that it pays to have more -- not fewer -- expert market views and analyses when you're making investing or trading decisions. That's why I recommend you take advantage of our
to TheStreet.com's
RealMoney
premium Web site, where you'll get in-depth commentary
and
money-making strategies from over 50 Wall Street pros, including Jim Cramer. Take my advice --
At the time of publication, Cramer was long Occidental Petroleum and Halliburton.
Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for
Action Alerts PLUS. Listen to Cramer's RealMoney Radio show on your computer; just click
here. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" at 6 p.m. ET weeknights on CNBC. Click
here to order Cramer's latest book, "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click
here to get his second book, "You Got Screwed!" and click
here to order Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column by
clicking here.
TheStreet.com has a revenue-sharing relationship with Traders' Library under which it receives a portion of the revenue from Traders' Library purchases by customers directed there from TheStreet.com.
