ASX energy shares are doing much of the heavy lifting today.

While the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down 0.9% in afternoon trading, the S&P/ASX 200 Energy Index (ASX: XEJ) is up 2.3%.

And we're seeing three ASX energy shares notching up new one-year highs today.

Which ASX energy shares are trading at one-year highs?

The Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) share price is up $3.02% to $1.78 at the time of writing, surpassing the $1.77 it was trading for on 7 March. With today's intraday gains factored in, Beach Energy shares are up 36% so far in 2022.

At the current share price, Beach Energy has a market cap of $4.1 billion.

Also hitting one-year highs today is ASX energy share MMA Offshore Ltd (ASX: MRM). The MMA share price is up 5.5% to 67 cents, taking out the 64 cents per share mark set on 28 March. That puts the MMA share price up a blistering 85% year-to-date.

At the current price, the oil and gas explorer has a market cap of $239 million.

And the third energy stock hitting one-year highs in intraday trading today is Horizon Oil Ltd (ASX: HZN), up 3.3% to 16 cents. At the time of writing, this matches its 27 May one-year highs after the share price retraced some in late afternoon trading.

The Horizon Oil share price is now up an impressive 82% in 2022, giving the company a market cap of $245 million.

What's driving ASX investor interest?

Investors have been buying ASX energy shares on the back of soaring energy prices.

Coal, crude oil and gas have all reached multi-year or even all-time highs this year.

While Brent crude oil slipped 1.8% overnight to US$114 per barrel, Brent crude kicked off 2022 trading for US$78 per barrel.

And some market veterans, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, believe that oil will head higher from here and stay elevated for years to come.

Speaking at the Autonomous Research financial services conference yesterday (overnight Aussie time), Dimon cautioned that Russia's war in Ukraine could see crude oil trading in the US$150 to US$175 per barrel range.

According to Dimon (quoted by The Australian Financial Review):

We're not taking the proper actions to protect Europe from what's going to happen in oil in the short run. And we're not taking the proper actions to protect you all from what's going to happen to oil in the next five years, which means it almost has to go up in price.

If crude oil does head to US$175 per barrel, it will take a big bite out of consumers' pockets while offering some strong tailwinds to ASX energy shares.

The post 3 ASX energy shares rocking new 52-week highs on Thursday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Horizon Oil Ltd (ASX: HZN) share price is among the worst performers on the All Ordinaries (Index:^AORD) (ASX:XAO) index during lunch time trade.

The company may be embroiled in a bribery scandal in Papua New Guinea that could see it subject to criminal charges, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Energy stocks are already under pressure today from the falling oil price and worries that OPEC and Russia would not step in to support the commodity through production cuts.

A new dark horizon

The Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) share price dipped 0.4% to $33.73 while fellow PNG-exposed oil and gas company Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH) tumbled 2.7% to $6.23 at the time of writing.

But that's nothing compared to the close to 30% plunge in the Horizon share price to 8.6 cents. The company's PNG ambitions may be thwarted by a nine-year old US$10.3 million payment it made in that country.

The payment was made to an unknown shell company even though Horizon's management had allegedly been warned that the payment could lead it into troubled waters.

Bribery and corruption allegation

The AFR reported that lawyers working on the 2011 deal highlighted links to PNG's then petroleum minister, William Duma. They warned an investigation by the US Department of Justice or Securities Exchange Commission was "likely" if details of the transaction were scrutinised.

It's alleged that Horizon was awarded a lucrative Petroleum Retention Licence 21 (PRL 21) in the just 10-weeks before the payment was made. The payment also followed the settlement of a protracted legal dispute with Mr Duma.

It's easy to see why some might call the payment a "bribe" and Horizon has strenuously denied any wrongdoing.

Horizon's defence

In a statement to the ASX, management said it has no actual knowledge of any wrongdoing relating to the transaction.

Horizon explained it (and its joint-venture partners) applied to get a renewal for another area, PRL 5, which was rejected by Mr Duma. Horizon appealed the decision, which was settled in 31 March 2011 where the company was awarded a 70% interest in PRL 21.

"The Minister awarded PRL 21 to three parties: Horizon Oil, and two local PNG companies: Elevala Energy Limited (Elevala Energy) and Dabajodi International Energy Limited (Dabajodi)," said Horizon in its statement.

"Pursuant to pre-existing contractual arrangements, Horizon Oil transferred a 35% interest in PRL 21 to a subsidiary of Canadian multinational oil and gas company Talisman Energy, Inc (Talisman).

"Horizon Oil acquired a 10% interest in PRL 21 from Elevala Energy for $US10.3 million, and Talisman acquired a further 5% interest in PRL 21 from Dabajodi."

Horizon shareholders will be praying that the explanation holds up to scruntiy.  

The post Why the share price of this ASX oil stock crashed by a third today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The S&P/ASX 200 is up 6.1 points to 6,047 at the time of writing and these three shares are following suit – printing 52-week highs.

Baby Bunting Group Ltd (ASX: BBN)

Shares in baby goods retailer Baby Bunting Group are at a 52-week high of $2.54 after a series of inclines from late July.

Despite its highs, Morgans has an add note on the stock with a price target of $2.78 after major competitor Babies R Us closed down after entering administration, opening up the opportunity for Baby Bunting to claim a larger share of the market.

Baby Bunting's total sales are up 9% to $303 million to kick off FY19 as gross profit rose 5.9% although statutory NPAT is down 29.1% to $8.7 million with pro forma EBITDA also down 18.9%.

The retailer maintains it spent FY18 "strengthening and consolidate" its market position but its time of reckoning is now, with little direct competition now from other retailers, Baby Bunting investors will expect exceptional sales growth and transaction volumes going forward.

Horizon Oil Ltd (ASX: HZN)

Small-cap oil and gas exploration company Horizon oil shares are at a 52-week high at 16c per share – up from just 0.05c at this time last year.

Horizon is an under-the-radar stock with just a $208 million market cap, but it has made some good inroads in the past year, with sales revenue jumping 46% higher from FY17 to US$100 million as EBITDAX also rose 52% to US$68.5 million and net cashflow from operating activities increased 62% to US$57.6 million.

While still in its exploration phase, Horizon is seeing decent progress in its PNG projects with its interests in the Beibu Gulf starting to meet production goals.

It's part of a tough industry, no doubt, but Horizon looks poised to fire up in the near future and is one to keep on the watchlist for sure.

Collins Food Ltd (ASX: CKF)

Restaurant operator Collins Foods shares hit a 52-week high on October 8, finishing the day's trading at $6.68 before dropping back slightly at the time of writing to $6.64.

Investors have responded well to news out of Collins it would roll out more than 50 new Taco Bell restaurants across Australia between 2019 and 2021.

Its recent AGM revealed Collins revenue had risen from $633.6 million in FY17 to $770.9 million for FY18 with underlying EBIT and NPAT also rising as Collins worked to increase its footprint by acquiring more businesses to up its restaurant count.

Collins is also hard at work overseas, acquiring 16 KFC restaurants in the Netherlands with an investor presentation this month revealing Collins had managed to improve its operating cash flow by 80% in the last five years as its dividend payments rose 125%.

The post These 3 stocks are printing 52-week highs appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Horizon Oil Ltd (ASX: HZN) endured a year it would rather forget which saw its share price drop 80% to 7 cents leaving the company with a market capitalisation of just $90 million.

Despite the challenges during the year, CEO Brent Emmett stated that: "Horizon Oil's ability to maintain strong revenue, cash flow and profitability in this environment is a testament to the quality of its assets and the ability of management to respond quickly to the changing environment  with its oil price hedging approach and by cutting operating and capital expenditure."

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation and exploration expenses (EBITDAX) were down 10% to $89 million, EBIT was down 28% to $35 million, whilst net profit was up 43% to $18.3 million mainly due to lower income tax expenses. Earnings per share came in at 1.4 US cents.

Oil production for the 2015 financial year was down 9% to 1.31 million barrels, whilst revenue slumped 25% to $104 million. The crude oil price lost almost 50% during the same period but hedging contracts delivered an average realised oil price of US$85.6 / barrel which was only 16% lower than that achieved in FY2014.

As at 30 June 2015, Horizon had 397,500 barrels of crude oil hedged at a weighted average price of US$94.77/barrel, which ensures that its realised price during FY2016 will be significantly higher than current oil prices.

The company provided a positive outlook for FY16 which included:

• Operating cash flows are expected to be substantially maintained notwithstanding lower oil prices
• Capital expenditure for FY2016 expected to be 50% lower than FY2015
• Progress at the Beibu Gulf fields development plan
• The company expects to have credit facilities in place to cover the repayment of its US$80 million Convertible Bond in June 2016
• Aim to progress the Papua New Guinea Stanley LNG project towards a final investment decision.

Horizon Oil managed to deliver a good result during a tough year for oil producers and the hedging contracts will help it through the coming year. However, with oil prices hovering around US$40/barrel, investors would be wise to avoid this sector until the outlook is a little more certain.

The post Horizon Oil Ltd reports tough year and surprise increase in net profit appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The day after the Budget, the S&P/ASX 300 (Indexasx: XKO) (ASX: XKO) rose 0.7% to 5,655.5, with most of our heavyweight industrial stocks in the top 20 posting positive gains. Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) dropped 2.5%, but that was due to going ex-dividend today.

Here are 5 more ASX stocks that were dumped today.

Australian Dairy Farms Group (ASX: AHF) dropped 16% to 21 cents, after resuming trading, following a $17.7 million capital raising. The company plans to purchase 3 producing dairy farms with the proceeds, doubling milk production to 20 million litres per year. Australia's only listed dairy farmer will issue an estimated 78.4 million shares at 20 cents each – the clear reason why shares plunged.

STW Communications Group Ltd (ASX: SGN) dropped 8.6% to 63.5 cents after the company's AGM today. It seems management expect underlying earnings and net profit to be in line with the previous year, but that's before restructuring costs. Colleague Andrew Mudie covered the fall in more detail earlier today.

Horizon Oil Ltd (ASX: HZN) fell 8% to 11.5 cents, despite no news from the company. In the last quarter, Horizon saw revenues of US$25.7 million, although that did including some hedging gains, as it produced more than 324,000 barrels of oil. Horizon has operations offshore New Zealand, China and onshore in Papua New Guinea.

Security firm Covata Ltd (ASX: CVT) lost 5.9% to 48 cents despite no news from the company. Shares in Covata can be very volatile, jumping as much as 18.6% back in March, after announcing a 10-year agreement with IT Giant Cisco, as we covered here. With data security a growing sector thanks to the threat from hacking and data breaches, as well as the move into 'the cloud', more data is at risk, which should prove to be a long-term tailwind for Covata.

Martin Aircraft Company Ltd (ASX: MJP) fell 5.5% to 86 cents, continuing its volatile journey. Shares in the jet pack manufacturer have soared as high as $3.15 and as low as 62.5 cents since listing in March 2015. Clearly investors have no idea how to value the company, which intends on making personal jetpacks which have a range of around 30 kilometres. Expect the volatility to continue until the company can successfully commercialise the product.

The post 5 ASX stocks crushed on the market today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The world's largest oil companies and private equity groups, including ExxonMobil, BP, Total, Chevron, Statoil, and Blackstone could be preparing for an acquisition spree after the collapse of the crude oil price has hammered down the value of smaller target companies.

$31 billion of debt was raised in the first two months of 2015. This surpassed the previous quarterly record of $28 billion set in 2009 when the oil price last collapsed.

Source: Investing.com

Richard Owen, the chairman of ExxonMobil's Australian division, said Australia was an interesting place for acquisitions at the moment. The company recently told U.S. investors it was "very alert to value propositions" as reported in The Australian Financial Review (AFR).

The companies are taking advantage of very low borrowing costs to prop up balance sheets which could also help fund future acquisitions.

Private equity groups see the collapse in company valuations as a great time to hunt for assets. The AFR reported PE groups Carlyle and Blackstone have been raising additional funds from investors and now have $U.S.19 billion available for investment in energy.

What does this mean for the Australian oil and gas industry?

Even our largest and most profitable companies Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) and Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) are feeling the squeeze on finances from the low oil price. Of these two, Woodside has the balance sheet flexibility to undertake significant acquisitions and have recently purchased some of Apache's oil and gas assets for $U.S.3.75 billion.

Many of the junior companies rely on debt and equity capital to fund exploration and expansion plans. Investors and creditors will be less likely to support these companies when the required returns may not be achieved. With the share price of most oil companies languishing near multi-year lows, it is a very tough time for the sector.

Who could be likely targets?

Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT), Drillsearch Energy Limited (ASX: DLS) and Senex Energy Ltd (ASX: SXY) operate predominantly in the Cooper Basin. All three companies hold licences over high-value ground with conventional and unconventional resources which could be of interest to the larger players.

Horizon Oil Ltd (ASX: HZN) – after the proposed merger of equals with ROC Oil Company Limited in 2014 was scuttled by a cash offer from China's Fosun Group, Horizon could be a potential takeover target. Horizon's major shareholder Austral-Asia Energy has increased their holding from 24% to 28% over the past two months.

Should you buy?

Acquisitions can provide shareholders of the target company a quick return via any premium paid by the acquiring company. Investors generally should not make substantial purchases in anticipation of an acquisition offer as they are never a sure thing.

The exception is when the company you are buying is likely to provide good returns in the future, regardless of whether a takeover occurs or not. With the oil and gas sector currently beaten down, investors who undertake thorough research may well find some junior companies with bright futures.

The post Is the oil and gas industry about to fire up? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

What:  In what has turned out to be a surprising start to this week's trading, the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) is off to a flying start and trading 0.7% higher by mid-afternoon. The gains in the index come despite a very negative lead from Wall Street last Friday. In fact, it was a horror end to the trading week on the US market with the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 ending 1.45% and 1.3% lower respectively.

So what: Wall Street's falls were caused by a combination of disappointing US economic data (specifically a weak gross domestic product reading), increased concerns about a Greek default and China's slowing growth rate. These factors had market pundits tipping the ASX to follow suit today with a decline. These worries have turned out to be overdone however with the market enjoying a rally at least in part thanks to a jump in the price of oil.

Now what: Indeed the rising oil price has been a driver of some of the biggest gainers on the market today. Drillsearch Energy Limited (ASX: DLS) has jumped 5.8%, Karoon Gas Australia Limited (ASX: KAR) has gained 3.3%, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) is up nearly 5%, Horizon Oil Ltd (ASX: HZN) has soared 12%, Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH) has rallied 3.1%, Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) is up 1.8% and oil and gas giant Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) has put on 1.1%.

The post 7 energy stocks beating the market today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

A number of index constituents contributed to the gains including a 12.1% jump in the share price of agricultural input supplier Nufarm Limited (ASX: NUF), a 5.3% rally in Horizon Oil Ltd (ASX: HZN) and a 4.5% gain for insurance broker Steadfast Group Ltd (ASX: SDF).

Why: In the case of Nufarm, the embattled company released its full year results on Tuesday which investors obviously reacted positively to. Revenue expanded 15% to $2.6 billion and underlying profit increased 4% to $86 million. Perhaps most pleasingly, net debt fell 19% to $513 million and a number of other metrics moved in the right direction too.

It appears a rise in the oil price was all it took to send Horizon's share price higher. Having reported a strong set of results at the end of August the share price had tracked the oil price lower over September. With production from its Beibu Gulf fields expected to remain strong in FY 2015 and with the balance sheet in a strong position post-PNG asset sales the company appears well placed.

Meanwhile, Steadfast's share price has now gained 15% in the last month – largely, it would appear thanks to the announcement of the acquisition of fellow listed insurance stock Calliden Group Ltd. (ASX: CIX).

Now what: Nufarm is very much a turnaround story and although it operates in the inherently difficult agricultural sector, the stock could be worth monitoring for investors with a high risk tolerance. Horizon Oil is heavily exposed to the oil price but could suit investors looking for a higher risk energy play. Finally, Steadfast remains a quality business with prospects for steady growth, however its shares do look pricey, so there may be better value elsewhere.

The post 3 ASX stocks smashing the market appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Horizon and Roc had proposed an $800 million merger of the two oil and gas companies, but today Roc announced that it had received a confidential, unsolicited, indicative and incomplete takeover approach from an unnamed party.

Investors obviously fear that the prospect of Roc being taken over rather than merge with Horizon has increased, and all the benefits of the combined entity will be lost to Horizon shareholders. On the other hand, Roc's shares rose 4.5% as the prospect of a better deal for the shareholders becomes more likely.

The combined group would have a market cap of around $800 million, with contingent resources of 120 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe). Annual production (predominantly oil) would be around 5.5 mmboe, with assets across China, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia Myanmar as well as Australia/New Zealand.

Roc Oil currently holds around US$88 million in cash (and no debt), which equates to around 12.8 US cents of cash per share – with shares currently trading at 59 cents.

It's not yet clear who the third party is who has initiated the takeover proposal for Roc, but it could be another of Australia's medium-sized oil and gas producers such as AWE Limited (ASX: AWE), Beach Energy Limited (ASX: BPT) or Senex Energy Ltd (ASX: SXY).

You also couldn't rule out Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL), which has relatively few development projects on the horizon (pun intended). Another potential bidder could be private equity, in conjunction with one of Roc's largest shareholders, fund manager Allan Gray, which controls a 19% stake in the company. Allan Gray's Simon Marais has been highly critical of the deal, calling it "fundamentally unfair".

There's not much Horizon shareholders can do now, but sit and wait for more details.

The post Why Horizon Oil Ltd sank more than 6% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

It wasn't the only oil and gas company to get whacked today either. Senex Energy Limited (ASX: SXY) lost 2.8%, while Strike Energy Ltd (ASX: STX) was hammered down 4.4%. Horizon Oil Ltd (ASX: HZN), in the midst of a merger with Roc Oil Company Limited (ASX: ROC) also had a down day, losing 1.3%.

Perhaps the biggest concern was a report released by EnergyQuest. The report notes that Russia's giant $400 billion deal to supply China with gas over 30 years, has serious consequences for Australia's liquefied natural gas producers. This in turn may feed down into Australia's smaller oil & gas explorers, such as Buru.

EnergyQuest says they need to drastically cut costs to remain competitive, with Australian LNG plants estimated to cost US$3,500 per tonne of capacity per year (tpa), compared to Gazprom's China project costs of around US$2,000 tpa.

Other large oil and gas companies have downplayed the threat, and with Buru holding large swathes of acreage in the Canning Basin in WA, it could be worthy of a closer look.

If Buru is not for you, there are plenty of other oil and gas stocks that could be a better play, including 3 we have identified in the following report.

The post Why Buru Energy Limited saw its shares sink today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) is directionless at midday, sitting at 5,403.4, down 0.1%. US markets were flat overnight.

Investors may well be sitting on the sidelines waiting for tonight's (Australian time) US non-farm payrolls data and the US unemployment rate. Either could trigger the US Federal Reserve's current tapering of its quantitative easing program.

Here are the top five best performing stocks in the index at midday today:

• Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN) is up 4.4% at 47 cents
• Skilled Group Limited (ASX: SKE) has gained 4.2% to $2.74
• NRW Holdings Limited (ASX: NWH) has risen 4.1% to $1.135
• Buru Energy Limited (ASX: BRU) has added 2.9% to $1.265
• Mount Gibson Iron Limited (ASX: MGX) saw gains of 2.8%, trading at 91 cents

These are the five worst performing stocks at midday today:

• Magellan Financial Group Limited (ASX: MFG) has slipped 3.5% to $13.64
• Ozforex Group Limited (ASX: OFX) is down 2.8% to $3.10
• David Jones Limited (ASX: DJS) has lost 2.8% to $3.16
• Horizon Oil Limited (ASX: HZN) fell 2.6% to 30.2 cents
• Lynas Corporation Limited (ASX: LYC) has fallen 2.5% to 19.5 cents

The post Best and worst stocks on the ASX at midday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

As you might expect, the materials and metals and mining sectors fared the worst, losing more than 4% each, while the gold sector dropped 2.7% on the back of a falling gold price.

Here are the top five best performing stocks in the index today.

• Leighton Holdings Limited (ASX: LEI) climbed 11.4% to $23.09
• Pacific Brands Limited (ASX: PBG) jumped 8.7% to 56 cents
• Regis Resources Limited (ASX: RRL) gained 6.5% to $2.48
• Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd. (ASX: DMP) added 3.3% to $22.29
• Horizon Oil Limited (ASX: HZN) rose3.2% to 32.5 cents

These stocks were the losers on the day.

• Silver Lake Resources Limited (ASX: SLR) plummeted 11.5% to 46 cents
• Arrium Ltd (ASX: ARI) ex-OneSteel dropped 10.6% to $1.345
• Atlas Iron Limited (ASX: AGO) fell 10.1% to 93 cents
• Sirius Resources N.L. (ASX: SIR) lost 9.6% to $2.53
• Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX: FMG) closed down 9.4% at $4.92

The post Best and Worst stocks on the ASX today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.