Upside for Natural Gas Stocks

• Ian Wyatt
• On 5:21 pm EDT, Tuesday September 15, 2009

Once again, small caps were the place to be. While the Dow Industrials managed a 0.59% gain, the Nasdaq 0.52% and the S&P 500 0.39%, the Russell 2000 finished up 0.79%.

 

Of today's top small cap movers, I am intrigued by Maguire Properties (NYSE:MPG - News). It's a REIT (real estate investment trust) which owns mostly office buildings and parking lots in California. In early August, Maguire defaulted on debt payments for 7 properties and had to turn them over to the bank.

 

The company claims better than $4 billion in assets and has a market cap of just $65 million. There has been recent moves by private equity to start buying distressed real estate. And if the Fed and Treasury are serious about supporting the commercial real estate market with loans and guarantees, beaten down REITs like Maguire Properties could be very attractive. The fact that Maguire was up 29% on nearly 8 times normal volume suggests that somebody out there thinks it's attractive.

 

*****Marcellus shale natural gas company Rex Energy (NasdaqGM:REXX - News) jumped 21% on an upgrade to overweight by Thomas Weisel. Natural gas prices are moving higher and Rex Energy will benefit.

 

*****SmallCapInvestor Daily readers are showing that you are the best audience this humble financial editor could ever hope for. Your support for my book The Small-Cap Investor: Secrets to Winning Big with Small-Cap Stocks sent it to #5 on Amazon.com's top selling business and investing books. And in just one day!

 

I'm truly flattered at your support - thank you very, very much.

 

For anyone who missed yesterday's announcement, here's a link to Amazon.com if you're interested in purchasing my first book - Visit Amazon.com by clicking here now

 

*****Natural gas futures ramped 11% yesterday. It's looking as though we caught a bottom for natural gas at my Top Stock Insights advisory service. I recommended Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) on August 27 at $22 a share to my Top Stock Insights readers. With today's 3% advance for the stock, we're up 22% in just three weeks.

 

With winter around the corner, and natural gas prices still extremely low, I suspect there's still plenty of upside for natural gas stocks.

 

Jason Cimpl at TradeMaster Daily Stock Alerts, has targeted 4 natural gas stocks that appear poised to make a strong move higher. For more on these natural gas stocks and TradeMaster Daily Stock Alerts, click HERE.   

 

*****Economic data was mostly good today. Retail sales rose by 2.7%, far more than the 1.9% expected rise. Of course, the number was inflated by auto sales from the Cash for Clunkers program. But even if auto sales are excluded, retail sales in other categories beat expectations.

 

Of course, retail sales literally dropped off a cliff after the financial crisis. There is still a long way to go to get back to anything resembling normal. And I believe current stock valuations reflect that pretty accurately.

Buzz up!