Street picks: 10 energy stocks ready to pop

Published Mon, Jun 15 20151:54 PM EDT

As energy stocks continue to gain favor among investors this year, CNBC Pro used technical and fundamental analysis to find the names that may be primed to rally the most. So far in 2015, the top five broad energy equity ETFs received $3.4 billion in fund flows, as investors got behind the sector after a 40 percent rally in oil prices from a low in March. "Oil's price plunge has leveled off after a stressful end of 2014, and with it we've noted investors returning into the energy equity sector," wrote Eric Mustin, vice president of ETF trading solutions at WallachBeth Capital. Similarly, last week Oppenheimer upgraded its rating on the energy sector to favorable from neutral, joining other Wall Street firms that have a bullish stance such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. But not all stocks in the sector were created equal. Some will be much more volatile than their peers. And others may not benefit as much if crude continues to rally. From a list of more than 100 energy stocks in the S & P 1500 index , Ari Wald, head of technical analysis at Oppenheimer & Co., identified the stocks he believes offer the best opportunities right now. Of those companies, we then searched for the equities that Wall Street analysts love the most for their fundamentals. With the fundamentals and charts aligned, these stocks could be great breakout candidates: The majority of names topping the list are companies involved in oil and gas refining, exploration and production. Shares of Newfield Exploration , for example, are projected to increase by 18 percent in the next 12 months based on the consensus target price of $43 set by Wall Street analysts. The stock is already up 35 percent this year. Other potential big winners include Tesoro , Valero , Baker Hughes and Western Refining —all expected to increase by more than 20 percent. In terms of inflows, exchange-traded funds such as the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) and the Vanguard Energy Index Fund (VDE) continue to gain traction, while investors are also betting on the SPDR S & P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP), Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (OIH) and iShares Global Energy ETF (IXC). On the ongoing interest in the energy sector, Mustin notes "investors have growing confidence that oil has found a price floor." Read More Retail traders have a new favorite cult stock

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As energy stocks continue to gain favor among investors this year, CNBC Pro used technical and fundamental analysis to find the names that may be primed to rally the most.

So far in 2015, the top five broad energy equity ETFs received $3.4 billion in fund flows, as investors got behind the sector after a 40 percent rally in oil prices from a low in March.

"Oil's price plunge has leveled off after a stressful end of 2014, and with it we've noted investors returning into the energy equity sector," wrote Eric Mustin, vice president of ETF trading solutions at WallachBeth Capital.

Similarly, last week Oppenheimer upgraded its rating on the energy sector to favorable from neutral, joining other Wall Street firms that have a bullish stance such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.

But not all stocks in the sector were created equal. Some will be much more volatile than their peers. And others may not benefit as much if crude continues to rally.