Amid Global Warming Debate, THIS Energy Sector Looks Great

Longtime readers know I was raised on a vegetable farm and spent most of my life in Montana. To borrow a phrase from John Denver, "Thank God I'm a country boy!"

One of my favorite things to do in Montana is hike around Glacier National Park, which is truly one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places in the world.

The only problem for Glacier Park lovers is that it is only open to cars and buses for a short period of time each year because of the large amount of snow it receives.

In fact, Glacier Park isn't even fully open yet! You can only drive through it from about late June to early October, when all the snow has been cleared from Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Even with all that snow, you would think the glaciers in Glacier Park would be growing like weeds. However, the glaciers have been receding.

In fact, Glacier Park is filled with signs about disappearing glaciers from global warming. The New York Times and National Geographic claimed that all of Glacier Park's glacier would be "gone by 2020."

However, the people running Glacier National Park have been quietly removing those signs. Those signs have been replaced with new ones that instead say the glaciers will disappear in "future generations."

What's up? The U.S. Geological Society says that …

"Those signs were based on the observation prior to 2010 that glaciers were shrinking more quickly than a computer model predicted they would. Subsequently, larger than average snowfall over several winters slowed down that retreat rate and the 2020 date used in the NPS display does not apply anymore."

As you might guess, I'm not all that alarmed about global warming. Why not? I do agree planet temperatures have been rising, but I am not convinced that mankind has had a significant impact on this increase.

The other beloved Montana national park, Yellowstone, was devastated by wildfires in 1988. Many were scared that it would never recover from the damage. However, Yellowstone looks as pristine as the day the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock.

The same is true of Prince William Sound in Alaska that was devastated by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.

My point is if your portfolio is heavily laden with stocks that will profit from fighting global warming — such as wind, solar, biofuels and electric cars — you should think twice what will happen to those companies if global warming isn't the looming catastrophe that the mainstream media wants you to believe.

Instead, I suggest you look at the natural gas and nuclear energy stocks. Natural gas and nuclear energy are two of the lowest carbon sources of energy and do so at a much, much lower cost than solar, wind or biofuel.

There are only a handful of nuclear energy stocks — Cameco (CCJ), Areva SA (ARVCY) and Paladin Energy (PALAF) — but there are dozens of companies in the natural gas business.

Here are some of the highest-rated companies in the natural gas space right now:

• Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD, Rated "B")
• ONEOK Inc. (OKE, Rated "B")
• TC Energy Corp. (TRP, Rated "B")
• Cheniere Energy Partners LP (CQP, Rated "B")
• Höegh LNG Partners LP (HMLP, Rated "B-")

The good news is that Weiss Ratings can help you identify the best natural gas stocks to own. Go to WeissRatings.com and use the free stock Screener to get started. Click on “Add Criteria” then select “Industry” in the menu under the heading “Columns.”

You can pick “Energy” on the next screen to narrow things down to that sector. Then use the sorting function under the “Rating” column to sort from highest-to-lowest Weiss Rating.   You can also drill down much deeper, adding criteria like market cap, stock price, dividends, cash flow and more.

Free is a good price, especially when you can get all this data. So, if you’re looking for exposure to energy stocks, our Screeners are a great place to get started!

Best wishes,
Tony Sagami