Opportunities in oil as crude careens: Jon Najarian

Oil prices careened to a fresh low Monday with WTI crude (CLF15.NYM) sliding to $55 a barrel. As a result oil volatility, as measured by the CBOE’s Crude Oil Volatility Index (^OVX),  has skyrocketed 68% during the past month, a move Jon Najarian, co-founder, of OptionMonster and Yahoo Finance contributor, believes will level off. “We are not going to see a sustained 3% move everyday in crude oil so it's [the OVX Index] telling you this is capitulatory.”

If the CBOE’s Crude Oil Volatility Index levels off, Najarian expects the fear pushing oil prices lower to subside. “I am not calling a bottom for a crude but I am thinking it's going to stabilize.” For investors who are willing to roll the dice, Najarian says this may signal a buying opportunity within the oil sector. “If I were someone who wanted to take on risk, I would buy it here, crude oil that is, or you could choose the USO [the United States Oil ETF (USO)]. I think that wouldn’t be such a bad play.”

[Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App]

For investors who prefer to own the oil companies, Najarian advises deciding how much risk you can stomach. “You have to decide, do you want beta? Halliburton (HAL), Exxon Mobil (XOM), things like that are going to be safer plays but they are not going to be the beta. If you want beta you could put a basket together of three to four of the small ones.”

Najarian also likes American Airlines (AAL) as another high beta no brainer. “American Airlines doesn’t hedge so when crude oil is down and dirty like it is now American is printing money.”

More from Yahoo Finance:
A playbook for the December VIX spike: Jon Najarian
What to watch during the last full trading week of 2014
Sonic's sweet recipe for investors