Hot Oil Service Companies To Buy Right Now

Having repurchased 23 million shares, or $1 billion worth of company stock, in the second quarter, oil services giant Halliburton (NYSE: HAL  ) announced today it had approved an increase to $5 billion in its buyback program.

The board of directors said that with just�$0.7 billion of repurchasing capacity remaining on the existing authorization that was initiated in 2006, it would increase by another $4.3 billion its ability to buy back shares. It also declared its third-quarter dividend of $0.125 per share, the same rate it's paid for the last two quarters after having increased the payout 39% from $0.09 per share.

Noting the first-quarter dividend hike reflected management's increased confidence in the strength of the company's outlook, Halliburton Chairman, President, and CEO�Dave Lesar said, "We believe that our relentless focus on generating best-in-class returns and our commitment to shareholder distributions will deliver increased value to our shareholders going forward."

Best Undervalued Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Unit Corporation(UNT)

Unit Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the contract drilling, oil and natural gas, and mid-stream businesses in the United States. The company?s Contract Drilling segment engages in land contract drilling of onshore oil and natural gas wells for oil and natural gas companies in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Montana, and North Dakota. Its Oil and Natural Gas segment is involved in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas properties located primarily in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, and North Dakota, as well as in Arkansas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Michigan, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and a small portion in Canada. As of December 31, 2011, this segment had approximately 121 gross proved undeveloped wells. The company?s Mid-Stream segment buys, sells, gathers, processes, and treats natural gas. It operates 3 natural gas treatment plants, 10 operating processing plants, 35 active gathering systems, and 934 miles of pipeline in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The company operates a fleet of 127 drilling rigs. Unit Corporation was founded in 1963 and is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  Having said that, I can’t find anything in the article archives about Unit Corp. (NYSE: UNT). Unit describes itself as a diversified energy company engaged in the exploration for and production of oil and natural gas, the acquisition of producing oil and natural gas properties, the contract drilling of onshore oil and natural gas wells, and the gathering and processing of natural gas.

Hot Oil Service Companies To Buy Right Now: Madison Square Garden Inc.(MSG)

The Madison Square Garden Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates in the sports, entertainment, and media businesses primarily in the United States. The company operates in three segments: MSG Media, MSG Entertainment, and MSG Sports. The MSG Media segment produces and develops content for various distribution platforms, including content originating from the company?s venues. It consists of the MSG Networks and the Fuse Networks, which offer sports and musical content. This segment also manages interactive businesses that comprise a range of targeted websites; and wireless, video on demand, and digital platforms. The MSG Entertainment segment creates, produces, and/or presents various live productions, as well as presents or hosts other live entertainment events, such as concerts, family shows, special events, and theatrical productions. The MSG Sports segment owns and operates sports franchises. This segment also owns other sports properties, including the pre sentation of a range of live sporting events, such as professional boxing, college basketball, track and field, and tennis. The company owns the Madison Square Garden complex in New York City, which includes an arena and a theater; and The Chicago Theatre in Chicago. It leases Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theatre in New York City. The company is based in New York, New York. As of February 09, 2010, Madison Square Garden, Inc. operates independently of Cablevision Systems Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sue Chang]

  Madison Square Garden Co. (MSG) �is forecast to post fiscal first-quarter earnings of 21 cents a share.

Hot Oil Service Companies To Buy Right Now: Methode Electronics Inc (MEI)

Methode Electronics, Inc., incorporated on April 27, 1966, is a manufacturer of component and subsystem devices with manufacturing, designs and testing facilities in China, Egypt, Germany, India, Lebanon, Malta, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Company operates in four segments: automotive, interconnect, power products, and other. The Company designs, manufactures and markets devices employing electrical, radio remote controls, electronic, wireless and sensing technologies. The Company's components are found in the primary end markets of the aerospace, appliance, automotive, construction, consumer and industrial equipment, communications, including information processing and storage, networking equipment, wireless and terrestrial voice/data systems, rail and other transportation industries.

Automotive

The Company�� automotive segment supplies electronic and electro-mechanical devices and related products to automobile original equipment manufacturers, (OEMs), either directly or through their tiered suppliers. The Company's products include control switches for electrical power and signals, connectors for electrical devices, integrated control components, switches and sensors that monitor the operation or status of a component or system, and packaging of electrical components.

Interconnect

The interconnect segment provides a variety of copper and fiber-optic interconnect and interface solutions for the aerospace, appliance, commercial, computer, construction, consumer, material handling, medical, military, mining, networking, storage, and telecommunications markets. Solutions include conductive polymers, connectors, custom cable assemblies, industrial safety radio remote controls, optical and copper transceivers, personal computer and express card packaging and terminators, solid-state field effect interface panels, and thick film inks. Services include the design and installation of f! iber optic and copper infrastructure systems, and manufacturing active and passive optical components.

Power products

The power products segment manufactures braided flexible cables, current-carrying laminated bus devices, custom power-product assemblies, high-current low voltage flexible power cabling systems and powder coated bus bars that are used in various markets and applications, including aerospace, computers, industrial and power conversion, inverters and battery systems, insulated gate bipolar transistor solutions, military, telecommunications, and transportation.

Other

The other segment includes a designer and manufacturer of magnetic torque sensing products, and independent laboratories that provide services for qualification testing and certification, and analysis of electronic and optical components.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon]

  Can you discuss three stocks that have been successful this year? What did you initially like about them and what helped them turn around?Methode Electronics (MEI) is an automotive component supplier, with automotive customers accounting for about 60% of its revenues. The company classifies the other 40% of its revenues as non-auto, which includes home appliance touch screens and sensors.

Hot Oil Service Companies To Buy Right Now: Primoris Services Corporation(PRIM)

Primoris Services Corporation, a specialty contractor and infrastructure company, provides a range of construction, fabrication, maintenance, replacement, water and wastewater, and product engineering services in the United States and internationally. It offers construction services, including installation of underground pipeline, cable, and conduits for entities in the petroleum, petrochemical, and water industries; installation and maintenance of industrial facilities for petroleum, petrochemical, and water industries; installation of commercial and industrial cast-in-place structures; and construction of highways, as well as industrial and environmental constructions. The company also engages in designing, supplying, and installing high-performance furnaces, heaters, burner management systems, and related combustion and process technologies for clients in the oil refining, petrochemical, and power generation industries, as well as furnishes turnkey project management se rvices and delivers custom engineering solutions. It serves public utilities, petrochemical companies, energy companies, municipalities, state departments of transportation, and other customers. Primoris Services Corporation is based in Dallas, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Holly LaFon] ris is a contractor and infrastructure company founded in 1946. It provides services related to construction fabrication, maintenance, replacement, water and wastewater and engineering to clients that are typically major public utilities, petrochemical companies, energy companies, municipalities and others. It doubled its size in 2009 and 2010 when it purchased the James Construction Group and Rockford Corporation, respectively. Primoris��predecessor company, Rhapsody acquisition Corp., had its IPO in 2006, and Primoris merged with Rhapsody in 2008.

  Joel Greenblatt bought 59,076 shares at an average price of $13.56 in the fourth quarter. After being relatively flat since its IPO, Primoris��stock price began to rise dramatically in 2011, and Greenblatt bought on a dip in the fourth quarter. In the last year it has appreciated 87 percent.

  Primoris��free cash flow and revenue in 2010 bounced back from a down year in 2009 and EBITDA grew each year in the same span of time. Return on equity and return on assets have both declined over the three years, but in the third quarter of 2011 came back strongly. ROE increased to 29.3 percent from 16.1 at year-end 2010, and ROA has increased to 11.4 percent from 4.8 percent at year-end 2010.

  The third quarter was good in other ways. The company reached its highest revenue and net income in its 60-year history. However, fluctuations in revenue and earnings may occur over the next several quarters as it completes several major projects. On November 30, it announced $181 million in new contracts.

  Primoris��P/E, P/S and P/B ratios:

  PRIM pe,ps,pb Interactive Chart

  Caribou Coffee (CBOU)

  Caribou Coffee is a gourmet coffee company that owns the second-largest number of coffeehouses in the U.S. After rising significantly in the second quarter of 2011, its stock price dropped in the fourth quarter, when Joel Greenblatt purchased it. He bought 52,794 shares at an average price of $13.27.