Leading Gulf of Mexico Oil Production with Strong Q2 Results

While answering the question whether the current positivity is a trickle-down effect of the interest rate cut. McKnight thinks that the effect of the rate cut has not kicked in yet, what we are witnessing is a very strong consumer environment led by encouraging spending. The US consumer has been resilient and wants to spend, moreover, the rate-cut environment is enabling them to continue spending.

The earnings expectations have been lower moving in but they continue to rise as we reach the year’s end. McKnight thinks that this is going to be one of the key challenges for companies moving into 2025. Companies have been able to layer in some operating margin improvement, including sales growth. However, next year, they will have to sustain this growth, which is going to be difficult. Therefore, he sees growth coming down in 2025. He also pointed towards valuations becoming a problem if growth comes down, because the market is currently trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 22 to 23, and companies would have to at least maintain current-year earnings growth to be fairly valued.

The interest rates are coming down, which should technically bring down the cost base for the market. However, the cost base never comes down as quickly as the market would like, similar to inflation, that’s where companies would find it challenging to maintain high growth rates.

McKnight advised that investors should stay balanced while investing, he mentioned that investors shouldn’t be chasing high flyers or just the big names that have been working, instead have a broad portfolio based on quality. Moreover, while mentioning the sectors he likes, McKnight mentioned Utilities and Communication Services. He thinks that the current news regarding the expected growth in the power sector along with the discussion of nuclear power for data centers is going to shape utilities over the next 3 to 5 years.

Our Methodology

To curate the list of the 10 best-depressed stocks to buy heading into 2025, we used the Finviz stock screener and Yahoo Finance. We defined depressed stocks as those trading within 0% to 3% of their 52-week lows. Using the Finviz stock screener, we got an aggregated list of stocks that fit our criteria. Next, we ranked these stocks based on the analyst upside potential sourced from CNN. All indicators were recorded on October 17th, 2024.

Moreover, we have also mentioned the number of institutional investors holding each stock sourced from the Insider Monkey database. Please note that the list is ranked in ascending order based on the analyst upside potential.

Why do we care about what hedge funds do? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Closeup of a hand maneuvering the controls of an oil rig.

52 Week Range: $9.58 – $16.99 

Current Share Price: $9.87

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 21

Analyst Upside Potential: 62.11% 

Talos Energy Inc. (NYSE:TALO) is an independent energy company primarily involved in exploring and producing oil and natural gas. They focus on finding and extracting oil and natural gas from the ground, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Mexico. As per the management, it is the fifth-largest operator in the Gulf of Mexico and the fourth-largest acreage holder in the Gulf of Mexico. The company has set its 2024 production guidance between 89,000 and 95,000 barrels of equivalent a day.

As far as its latest production figure is concerned, during the second quarter of fiscal 2024, the company reached a production level of 95.5 MBOE/D, comprising 73% oil and 81% liquids. As a result of strong production the adjusted EBITDA came in at $344 million with a adjusted free cash flow of $148 million. Management has been investing in capital projects which resulted in a 36% reinvestment rate without additional spending on plugging and abandonment and 42% including it.

Talos Energy Inc. (NYSE:TALO) is also developing a high-impact project called the Monument project, expected to add significant value with an estimated production capacity of up to 30,000 barrels per day. Moreover, it was also able to reduce its debt by $100 million. For the third quarter, the company expects to produce 92,000 and 97,000 barrels equivalent a day.

Overall, TALO ranks 5th on our list of best depressed stocks to buy heading into 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of TALO to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for a promising AI stock that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.