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Zacks.Com Announces That Bill Martin and Matt Ragas Highlight the Following Stocks: Contango Oil & Gas and Southwestern Energy

Posted on: Tuesday, 12 July 2005, 06:00 CDT

Bill Martin and Matt Ragas, editors of the FindProfit newsletter, see potential in a small-cap, oil and natural gas outfit. Read about Contango Oil & Gas (AMEX:MCF) and Southwestern Energy (NYSE:SWN). Click here for the full story exclusively on Zacks.com: http://at.zacks.com/?id=84

Highlights from the July 8th Featured Expert column by Bill Martin and Matt Ragas include:

Contango Oil & Gas Continues Run

Shares of small-cap, oil and natural gas outfit Contango Oil & Gas (AMEX:MCF) continued a move to the upside today, as the stock hit an all-time high in intraday trading. The recent strength in MCF - the stock is up more than 30% since June 1st - comes even as one of the company's largest shareholders continues to sell its stake.

Trust Company of the West ("TCW"), which began paring back its stake in MCF back in March 2004, has continued to sell through the stock's upswing. TCW's selling is actually turning into a positive, according to one of Martin and Ragas' institutional contacts, who said there's been no shortage of buyers for TCW's shares. With only 13.2 million shares outstanding and a float of about 7.7 million shares, supply is obviously tight for MCF. One reason that MCF has been catching a bid, their contact says, is that investors are looking for a "tertiary play" on a larger integrated exploration and production company, Southwestern Energy (NYSE:SWN).

Like MCF, shares of SWN hit an all-time high today, breaking above the $55 mark earlier this morning. The stock, which split 2-for-1 in early June, is trading down -1% for the day, but is still up almost 50% since June 1st. The rapid move in SWN to the upside is partly the result of successful wells drilled in the Fayetteville Shale Play in Arkansas, an area where MCF has exposure, hence the "tertiary play" comment from Martin and Ragas' institutional contact. MCF entered the Fayetteville Shale Play in March of this year, but has yet to report any drilling in the area. The company has agreed to incur lease acquisitions costs of up to $4.2 million for the project.

Martin and Ragas won't quibble about the recent gains they have seen in MCF, but they are still in a "show me the money" mode when it comes to the Fayetteville Shale Play. MCF sold the majority of its onshore assets last fall, and the company's offshore operations and its 10% stake in the Freeport Liquefied Natural Gas facility are where Martin and Ragas continue to believe MCF's primary potential lie. Obviously, they would welcome upside from the Fayetteville Shale Play, but wouldn't be speculating alone on this possibility.

Read Bill Martin and Matt Ragas' complete commentary and read their analysis on a daily basis by clicking: http://at.zacks.com/?id=85

About Zacks Featured Experts

Successful investing requires professional advice from knowledgeable experts who can help investors achieve their financial goals in good markets and improve their portfolios, especially in bad ones. That is why Zacks Investment Research has assembled the best investment experts in the business to offer their powerful advisory newsletters on all the major investment topics: Stocks, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Options, Futures etc.

Additional recommendations from Zacks.com Featured Experts are highlighted in the free investment newsletter, Profit from the Pros. Each issue highlights several Featured Experts in this free e-mail newsletter. Register for a free subscription to "Profit from the Pros" at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=86

About Zacks

Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 to compile, analyze, and distribute investment research to both institutional and individual investors. The guiding principle behind Zacks work is the belief that investment experts, such as brokerage analysts and investment newsletter writers, have superior knowledge about how to invest successfully. The goal is to unlock these pros' profitable insights for individual investors hard-pressed to find this valuable information in one source. A free subscription to "Profit from the Pros" weekly e-mail newsletter provides the best way to use these experts' insights for more profitable investing. Register now for a free subscription to the Profit from the Pros newsletter at http://at.zacks.com/?id=87

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Source: Business Wire

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