Despite the stock market’s recent bounce, some experts are in no mood to celebrate.
According to top fund manager Jeff Muhlenkamp, the outlook remains gloomy.
In an interview with Business Insider, Muhlenkamp says that the S&P 500 could drop another 20% to 25%.
He says that the Fed — which is raising interest rates aggressively to tame inflation — has “broken a couple of things already.”
“Frankly, I have no reason to expect anything other than more breakage. I honestly don’t think the Fed’s going to get inflation under control before something that they really care about goes haywire.”
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Muhlenkamp knows a thing or two about surviving the current downturn. His Muhlenkamp Fund has beaten 99% of its peers year to date according to investment research specialist Morningstar.
While the fund manager is not bullish on the market as a whole, he still sees opportunity in a sector that has already performed quite well.
“Right now, unfortunately, we aren’t seeing great prices that trump our concerns about what’s happening at the national economic level, with the one exception being in energy.”
Here are three of his favorite names in the space.
EQT (EQT)
EQT is a natural gas producer in the Marcellus and Utica Shales in the Appalachian Basin.
Given how much natural gas prices have gone up this year, it’s no surprise that EQT’s business is firing on all cylinders.
The company just reported earnings. In Q3, it achieved an average realized price of $3.41 per thousand cubic feet of natural gas equivalent, marking a 46% increase from the $2.33 per Mcfe it earned in the year-ago period.
EQT also churned out $591 million of free cash flow for the quarter, a huge improvement from the $99 million generated in Q3 2021.
Unsurprisingly, the company has received a lot of investor attention this year — shares are up 80% so far in 2022.
EQT is also returning more cash to investors. Management recently doubled the company’s share repurchase authorization to $2.0 billion.
Occidental Petroleum (OXY)
Occidental Petroleum is an energy company with assets in the U.S., the Middle East and North Africa. Notably, it’s one of the leading oil producers in the Permian and DJ basins and offshore Gulf of Mexico.
Occidental made headlines earlier this year when legendary investor Warren Buffett loaded up on the company’s shares.
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Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway backed up the truck on Occidental after the company’s earnings conference call held in late February. Buffett read the transcript and liked what he saw.
“We started buying on Monday and we bought all we could,” he told CNBC.
Later on, Buffett bought more — a lot more.
According to the latest SEC filing, Berkshire now owns 194.4 million shares of OXY, worth a whopping $14.1 billion. That makes OXY Buffett’s sixth-largest holding.
The stock has surged 135% year to date, which is impressive — even by energy sector standards.
Occidental will release its Q3 earnings report on Nov. 8 after the closing bell.
SLB (SLB)
It’s not just the producers that can benefit from the energy boom. Muhlenkamp also holds shares of oilfield services provider SLB.
In Q3, SLB brought in $7.5 billion of revenue, representing a 28% increase year over year.
Bottom line growth was even more impressive, as the company’s adjusted earnings came in at $0.63 per share, up 26% sequentially and 75% from a year ago.
Shares have climbed a solid 63% year to date.
Note, that SLB used to go by the name Schlumberger. The company changed to its current name on Oct. 24, reflecting its vision for a “decarbonized energy future.”
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