We recently published a list of Why These Energy Stocks Are Gaining This Week. In this article, we are going to take a look at where EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG) stands against other energy stocks that are gaining this week.
The energy sector has outperformed the broader market so far this year, with gains of 2.7% against the general market’s surge of 1.48%. This comes after a disappointing 2024 when the energy sector lagged significantly behind gains of 25% by the wider market.
READ ALSO: 12 Best Oil Refinery Stocks To Invest In According to Analysts and 11 Best Natural Gas Stocks To Buy Now
As the world gets hungry for more and more energy, the International Energy Agency has forecasted the world’s electricity consumption to rise at its fastest pace in recent years, growing at close to 4% annually through 2027. The uptick can be mainly attributed to a surge in industrial production, increased demand for air conditioning, accelerating electrification, primarily by the transport sector, and the rapid expansion of data centers.
Electricity demand in the United States, the second-largest consumer in the world after China, is to grow at an average annual rate of about 2% over the period 2025-2027, driven by the strong demand growth from the data center sector.
Other sectors, including natural gas, also stand to benefit tremendously from the ongoing AI boom and the accompanying data centers, as several dozen new gas-fired power plants are expected to be built in the US in the next few years. According to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights, if even a quarter of the projected data center load is supplied by gas-fired generation, this would translate to a 2% increase in total US gas demand in 2040, providing some much-needed respite to a sector that has faced a series of challenges over the last year.
Methodology
To collect data for this article, we have referred to several stock screeners to find energy stocks that have surged the most between February 14 to February 24, 2025.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? 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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
An oil rig in action in a vast desert, drilling for natural gas.
EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG)
Share Price Gains Between Feb. 14 – Feb. 24: 3.34%
EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG) is one of the largest crude oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in the United States with proved reserves in the US and Trinidad. Shares of the company surged earlier this month after it received an upgraded stock rating from RBC Capital Markets, moving from Sector Perform to Outperform, with a price target of $155, up from $150. The upgrade was attributed to EOG’s sustained strong operational performance, its exposure to rising natural gas prices, and the potential for significant stock buybacks.
EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG) is known for its robust balance sheet and increasing shareholder returns. The company boosted its share buyback program by $5 billion at the end of Q3 2024 after beating profit estimates and stated that it would raise its debt balance to a range of $5 to $6 billion in the next 12 to 18 months, which would make additional cash available for investor payouts.
Overall, EOG ranks 9th on our list of energy stocks that are gaining this week. While we acknowledge the potential for EOG to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than EOG but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
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