Energy stocks look to be lucrative investments heading into the summer months. Two energy stocks I particularly like are Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) and El Paso (NYSE: EP). Below are my thoughts on the two:

Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) is an oilfield-services company that sells project management, technology, and information services to oil and gas companies across the globe. This company has been soaring as of late and its business as a whole is gaining momentum heading into the summer months. The past few quarters, SLB has beat analysts earnings expectations. Adding to this the stock is trading at a great value compared to historical averages. Analysts are projecting this stock to rise over the course of the next 12-months. SLB receives a "Buy" recommendation from 86% of all research analysts, a huge upside going forward.

SLB is finally moving in the right direction, last February they acquired Smith, another energy services company in an $11 billion dollar stock deal. SLB is now finally using these assets to the best of their ability increasing revenues all across the board. Smith helped contribute $275 million in income last quarter.Higher costs have dropped SLB's net profit margin however this is nothing to worry in the long-term as business is so good SLB continues to dominate the sector. Schlumberger's stock sells for a forward earnings multiple of 22, a 9% discount to the energy equipment and services industry average. Schlumberger's stock sells for a forward earnings multiple of 22, a 9% discount to the energy equipment and services industry average. Some analysts expect SLB to kill it in the next year; Morgan Stanley has a bullish-scenario target of $180 for Schlumberger, a total yield of 110%. More realistically though I expect Schlumberger's stock to advance $125 a total yield of 48%.

El Paso (NYSE: EP) is one of the top natural gas transmission, exploration, and production companies. EP has a very impressive book of business resulting in them receiving a "buy" rating from an impressive 80% of analysts. El Paso has significant interests in the 42,000 mile North American natural gas pipeline system, which will increase in importance in coming years as the U.S. segues from foreign-produced oil to domestically-abundant natural gas. Over the past several years, EP's net income has grown statistically 7.2% a year. I think EP is a very attractive investment due to its pricing power compared to companies who need to transport/store natural gas, which hurts profit margins. Over the past year, gross margin and operating margin both rose 10%+.

Adding to this, EP has a very stable pipeline business and their exploration unit has interested many investors as they continue to find new territories to explore. The explorative part of El Paso makes the stock attractive long-term due to its very lucrative prospects backed by stable cash flow. EP sells at a trailing earnings multiple of 11, a forward earnings multiple of 13, a book value multiple of 2.2, a sales multiple of 2.1 and a cash flow multiple of 5.4. All these are huge discounts compared to industry peers. I forecast EP to rise 30% to $42 a share within the next 12-months.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, but may initiate a long position in [[SLB]], [[EPB]] over the next 72 hours.

Now that the new year has finally begun there are a few financial publications that everyone interested in the financial markets needs to be reading, below is the list:

Financial Times

The Financial Times is one of the great online & print publications out there. It is very similar to the Wall Street Journal but has a different spin on macro
economic events along with very different perspectives. It will give you the latest UK and international business, finance, economic and political news, comment and analysis and I believe it is a must read for anyone who intrigued or engaged within the business world. I would recommend investing in a yearly subscription for the Financial Times. Right now is a perfect time as they are having a once in a year, 4-week Free Trial. Make sure to take advantage of this great deal as it only comes around once a year. If interested in this offer click on the ad to the side or follow the FINANCIAL TIMES LINK.

Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal is one of the most reknowed financial publication out there. I have been a long-term reader and there's not a day that passes by without me reading the financial publications throughout the website. For those of you who don't currently have a yearly/monthly subscription to the Wall Street Journal then sign-up right now. They have online only, print online, or joint subscriptions so you can read the journal any which way you want. To sign-up and take advatange of the special offers right now either click on the ad to the side or follow the WALL STREET JOURNAL LINK.

Forbes Newsletters

For those of you who like news on economics, insights into the market, and much need help for your investment portfolio. If your portfolio is under pressure, it's time you got Insight, the monthly investment newsletter "The Prudent Speculator" from both the economist and Forbes magazine columnists. It is great for the average investor and even better for the advanced trader. I throughly recommend this publication and to subscribe either click on the ad to the side or follow THE PRUDENT SPECULATOR LINK.

Barrons

Barron's is an American weekly newspaper covering U.S. financial information, market developments, and relevant statistics. Each issue provides a wrap-up of the previous week's market activity, news reports, and an informative outlook on the week to come. It is one of the top publications out there and for anyone interested in the financial markets I throughly recommend purchasing a subscription. Right now they are offering a Four-Week Free Trial that is more than worth testing out. To sign-up simply click on the ad to the side or follow the link BARRON'S LINK.

MarketWatch

MarketWatch operates a financial information website that provides business news, analysis and stock market data to some 6 million people. MarketWatch offers personal finance news and advice, tools for investors and access to industry research. As I have said, all these are my favorite publications across the web and MarketWatch is one of the industry leaders. Test it out, like the rest of the finance publications they offer free trials to their research tools. Simply click on the ad to the side or follow the link MARKETWATCH LINK.

TheStreet.com

For those of you watch Jim Cramer's show "Mad Money" he also runs a successful financial, investment research website TheStreet.com. The Street is great in offering great analysis on individual stock picks along with market updates from a strong team of writers. I prefer it to many of the other financial sites and while most of the site is free, it pays to have the advanced research tools and the stock picker services. I recommend you sign-up for the stock picking services by simply clicking on the ad to the side or follow CRAMER'S STOCK PICKING SERVICE LINK.

Don't be a stranger leave a comment below and let me know what you think about the various publications and which ones you chose to subscribe to or send them to my Twitter. Also remember to sign up for Stocks on Wall Street's Monthly Newsletter and never be afraid to Contact Us.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Financial Times

The Financial Times is one of the great online & print publications out there. It is very similar to the Wall Street Journal but has a different spin on macro
economic events along with very different perspectives. It will give you the latest UK and international business, finance, economic and political news, comment and analysis and I believe it is a must read for anyone who intrigued or engaged within the business world. I would recommend investing in a yearly subscription for the Financial Times. Right now is a perfect time as they are having a once in a year, 4-week Free Trial. Make sure to take advantage of this great deal as it only comes around once a year. If interested in this offer click on the ad to the side or follow the FINANCIAL TIMES LINK.

Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal is one of the most reknowed financial publication out there. I have been a long-term reader and there's not a day that passes by without me reading the financial publications throughout the website. For those of you who don't currently have a yearly/monthly subscription to the Wall Street Journal then sign-up right now. They have online only, print online, or joint subscriptions so you can read the journal any which way you want. To sign-up and take advatange of the special offers right now either click on the ad to the side or follow the WALL STREET JOURNAL LINK.

Forbes Newsletters

For those of you who like news on economics, insights into the market, and much need help for your investment portfolio. If your portfolio is under pressure, it's time you got Insight, the monthly investment newsletter "The Prudent Speculator" from both the economist and Forbes magazine columnists. It is great for the average investor and even better for the advanced trader. I throughly recommend this publication and to subscribe either click on the ad to the side or follow THE PRUDENT SPECULATOR LINK.

Barrons

Barron's is an American weekly newspaper covering U.S. financial information, market developments, and relevant statistics. Each issue provides a wrap-up of the previous week's market activity, news reports, and an informative outlook on the week to come. It is one of the top publications out there and for anyone interested in the financial markets I thoroughly recommend purchasing a subscription. Right now they are offering a Four-Week Free Trial that is more than worth testing out. To sign-up simply click on the ad to the side or follow the link BARRON'S LINK.

MarketWatch

MarketWatch operates a financial information website that provides business news, analysis and stock market data to some 6 million people. MarketWatch offers personal finance news and advice, tools for investors and access to industry research. As I have said, all these are my favorite publications across the web and MarketWatch is one of the industry leaders. Test it out, like the rest of the finance publications they offer free trials to their research tools. Simply click on the ad to the side or follow the link MARKETWATCH LINK.

TheStreet.com

For those of you watch Jim Cramer's show "Mad Money" he also runs a successful financial, investment research website TheStreet.com. The Street is great in offering great analysis on individual stock picks along with market updates from a strong team of writers. I prefer it to many of the other financial sites and while most of the site is free, it pays to have the advanced research tools and the stock picker services. I recommend you sign-up for the stock picking services by simply clicking on the ad to the side or followCRAMER'S STOCK PICKING SERVICE LINK.

Don't be a stranger leave a comment below and let me know what you think about the various publications and which ones you chose to subscribe to or send them to my Twitter. Also remember to sign up for Stocks on Wall Street's Monthly Newsletter and never be afraid to Contact Us.

With the 2012 Presidential election in full force many top Republican candidates are making the most out of their web sites and email and social media efforts, while trying to win the 2012 election. We saw the effectiveness of social media and online marketing in the 2008 Presidential election as a lot can be said to Barack Obama implementing these tactics to win the election.  As internet marketers, we can truly appreciate the power of the internet and how we can influence people through social networking. Through the use of capturing email addresses and using Twitter, Obama was able to connect with the younger generation and be cool with technology, in addition to being able to instantly contact millions of followers for donations. After the 2008 election, people finally started to realize the power of social networking and how online communications will affect the way elections can be swung and won. To help combat against Obama in the 2012 election, many of the top Republican candidates are investing huge amounts of resources to improving their online image. Below is a preview to the landing pages of all the top GOP candidates.

From the landing pages listed in this article, I would have to say Mitt Romney has the best setup. There is already a massive following behind Gov. Chris Christie, and by associating his approval with Mitt Romney, it gives you more of a reason to follow/like/vote for Romney. In addition to an immediate call to action (email/zip code), the page also demonstrates all of the necessary social networking buttons than many of the other candidates lack.

Though he may not be running in the election for much longer after her little stunt last night during the debate, Rick Perry still has a decent landing page for his web site. An immediate call to action with a nice looking design, along with the option to skip right to the web site if you don’t want to signup. Not providing this option, or making it hard to find, can really irritate web site visitors.

Herman Cain has been in the news from the start, with his 9-9-9 plan, to the recent allegations against him. We don’t care about any of that… instead let’s focus on his web site landing page. A great looking design with minimal distractions (various colors), but still an immediate action, which is to enter your email address and zip code. Again, the option to “continue to website” is still prominent.

The web site for Michelle Bachman has taken a different approach from the others in the group, which is to offer a choice to the visitors… something I don’t recommend. If you click “Donate Today”, you are sent to a long registration form about donating and volunteering. You also have the option to get email updates… which just doesn’t sound that exciting. Adding one more distraction to the page, you have the option to buy her book. When giving the user too many options, many will just leave or start browsing without a direct goal in mind. I would have just went along with the other candidates and grabbed the users email on the main page.

It’s not surprising that Ron Paul has taken a different approach from all other candidates, not just in his politics, but also with his site structure. When you visit Ron Paul’s web site, that’s exactly what you get… a full web site. There is no email caption or donation button in your face, but all of the content on one page. You will see placements through out the site for email updates, donations and social links, but they are not stand alone lead generation pages like many of the other candidates. This is an approach New Gingrich did with his web site.

No… not to become the leader of our country, but for the best web site and landing page? With the ridiculous amount of money that will be spent and wasted pushing users to vote for these candidates, if they don’t have the right online setting and social pretense, their campaign may already be doomed. With the simple means of ONE CLICK to “like” or “follow” through Twitter and Facebook, it’s surprising to see more candidates aren’t making use of these powerful means of communication.

“Don’t gamble,” he said.  “Buy some good stock.  Hold it till it goes up…and then sell it.  It if doesn’t go up, don’t buy it!”

Templeton had a simple belief that success in the stock market is based on the principle of buying low and selling high.  Granted, you can make money by reversing the order – selling high and then buying low.  And there is money to be made in things like derivatives, options and futures.  But, by and large, he believed these are techniques for traders and speculators, not for investors.

In 1954, Templeton had a big idea: look beyond America’s borders for investing riches. This wasn’t exactly common at the time.  After graduating from Yale, he was amazed that Americans hardly ever invested abroad.  For a long time, he believed, it was almost considered unpatriotic for an American to buy foreign securities.

Over the next 50 years, Templeton amassed a small fortune by investing in overseas markets – eventually becoming a billionaire.  And his Templeton Mutual Funds (now the Franklin Templeton Funds) produced an annualized return of 13.8% (compared to just 11.1% on the S&P), causing Money magazine to dub him "arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century.”

So How’d He Do It?

Templeton considered himself a “bargain hunter.”  Always a contrarian, he looked for “companies around the world that offered low prices and an excellent long-term outlook."

Sir John Templeton’s core investment advice is even more relevant today.  Anyone who follows Stocks on Wall Street knows I’m an avid supporter of emerging markets and international equities.

Continue to follow Stocks on Wall Street for more exciting new investment ideas from beyond America’s borders.

Sir John Templeton is one of the investment gurus of our time and is regarded as the founding father of overseas investing.  Templeton amassed a fortune by investing in overseas markets and his Templeton Mutual Funds (now Franklin Templeton Funds) produced an annualized return of 13.8% (compared to just 11.1% on the S&P), causing Money magazine to dub him “arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century.”

Templeton lived by a set of 16 rules.  If you want to have international investing success, you’d be smart to follow these rules, too. Over the next few days, I’ll recap Templeton’s 16 investment rules in a four-part series.  Here’s Part I, recapping Templeton’s Investment Rules N^o.1 through N^o.4:

N^o. 1:  Invest for maximum total ‘real’ return
This means the ROI after taxes and after inflation.  These fees add up. So smart investors plan ahead to protect their investments.  One of the biggest mistakes people make is putting too much money into fixed-income securities.  As we enter a new era of higher inflation and higher taxes, this advice is more important today than it’s ever been.

N^o. 2:  Invest – don’t trade or speculate
Don’t think of investing as short-term gambling. Rather, patiently invest for the long haul to avoid seeing your profits eaten up by broker commissions and other emotion-driven mistakes.

N^o. 3:  Remain flexible & open-minded about types of investments
Don’t get hung up on just stocks or bonds. Many different types of investment vehicles are available. And each could have a place in your portfolio given the right circumstances. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) weren’t around in Templeton’s day. But these are great, low-cost ways of investing in overseas markets.

N^o. 4:  Buy low
Easier said than done. This is the fundamental part of Templeton’s investing success. He believed you should “invest at the point of maximum pessimism.” This is when an investment was dirt-cheap and no one wanted it.  When prices are high, a lot of investors buy a lot of stocks.  It’s very difficult to go against the crowd – to buy when everyone else is selling or has sold, to buy when things look the darkest and so many experts tell you that stocks are risky right now.  The pioneer of stock analysis, Benjamin Graham said, “Buy when most people…including experts…are pessimistic, and sell when they are actively optimistic.”  Bernard Baruch, was even more succinct: “Never follow the crowd.”

N^o. 5:  Search for bargains among ‘quality’ stocks
It’s not enough to just buy cheap stocks. You need to buy cheap quality stocks. According to Templeton, “Quality is a company strongly entrenched as the sales leader in a growing market. Quality is a company that’s the technological leader in a field that depends on technical innovation. Quality is a strong management team with a proven track record. Quality is a well-capitalized company that is among the first into a new market. Quality is a well-known trusted brand for a high-profit-margin consumer product.”  Think Apple!

N^o. 6:  Buy value – not market trends or economic outlook
Templeton believed in the principles of value investing. This means always looking for stocks or ETFs that are “out of favor” with the market. A good way to spot value is to look for stocks — or stock markets ­— with low P/E ratios.  Individual stocks can rise in a bear market and fall in a bull market.  The stock market and the economy do not always march in lock step.  So buy individual stocks, not the market trend or economic outlook.

N^o. 7:  Always diversify
You’ve probably heard this before, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket.  Diversification is a smart strategy for every investor.  So you diversify – by industry, by risk and by country.  If you search worldwide, you’ll find more bargains – and possibly better bargains – than in any single nation.

N^o. 8:  Do your homework or hire wise experts to help you
Before you place a single dollar in the market, it’s absolutely necessary you investigate thoroughly. Make sure you understand the macro forces acting on your investments. Pour over company balance sheets. Read shareholder letters. Understand exactly what a company does and what’s made it so successful in the past. If you don’t understand what you’re investing in – don’t invest!  Remember, in most instances, you’re buying either earnings or assets.

N^o. 9:  Aggressively monitor your investments 
The big takeaway here is that no investment is forever. Economic circumstances change.  Business models change.  Bull markets turn to bear markets.  If you want to hold on to your money, you need to constantly evaluate your portfolio.  That’s not to say you should be trading in and out of the market on a hair trigger.  You just want to make sure you’re not complacent.
N^o. 10:  Don’t panic
Sometimes you won’t have sold when everyone else is buying, and you’ll be caught in a market crash like we had in 2008.  During the course of your investing career, the market will correct.  Stocks will fall.  This doesn’t matter.  What counts is how you react. When everyone else is panicking, successful investors calmly look over their holdings and think: “I wanted to own this stock before it crashed.  Has anything changed now that it’s cheaper?”  If you’ve done your research, chances are nothing has changed.  Panicky markets just put the stock “on sale” – creating an even better buying opportunity.

N^o. 11:  Learn from your mistakes
Learning from your mistakes is the only way to become a better investor. Figure out what went wrong.  And learn from it.  Stay away from advisers who tell you “this time it’s different.”  These are the four most costly words in investing!  The big difference between those who are successful and those who are not is that successful people learn from their mistakes and the mistakes of others.
N^o. 12:  Begin with a prayer
The Presbyterian Church played an important role in Templeton’s life and career.  He believed that “if you begin with a prayer, you can think more clearly and make fewer mistakes.”  You don’t have to be a Christian to follow Templeton’s advice. You just have to find some calm in your day.  This will help you focus on what’s really important.

N^o. 13:  Outperforming the market is a difficult task
There are thousands of highly paid investing experts out there.  Each one is trying to beat the overall market.  But it’s mathematically impossible for everyone to outperform the market.  Remember, the unmanaged market indexes such as the S&P 500 don’t pay commissions to buy and sell stock.  They don’t pay salaries to securities analysts or portfolio managers.  And, unlike the unmanaged indexes, investment companies are never 100% invested, because they need to have cash on hand to redeem shares.  So, any investment company that consistently outperforms the market is actually doing a much better job than you might think.  And if it consistently outperforms the market, but does so by a significant degree, it is doing a superb job.

N^o. 14:  An investor who has all the answers doesn’t even understand the questions. There are no 100% certainties in the investing game.  Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is deluded.  Successful investors constantly reevaluate their assumptions and seek answers to new questions.  Everything is in a constant state of change, and the wise investor recognizes that success is a process of continually seeking answers to new questions.

N^o. 15:  There’s no free lunch
Templeton believed this was true in life as in investing.  He said you should never invest on sentiment, never invest in an initial public offering (IPO) to ‘save’ the commission.  That commission is built into the price of the stock – a reason why most new stocks decline in value after the offer.  However, this does not mean you should never by an IPO.  Never invest solely on a tip.  Nevertheless, too many investors do exactly this.

N^o. 16:  Do not be fearful or negative too often
Over the past 100 years, investment optimists have beaten investment pessimists by a wide margin.  That’s because the average bull market gain is much higher than the average bear market loss.  Optimism isn’t always easy.  But it can pay off big time.  Over time, stocks do go up…and up.

Every successful sports team, every successful investor needs a game plan.

This includes your big picture view of how the markets will develop.  It involves identifying winning trends, picking the right asset classes, sectors and geographical regions that will outperform.  Not having a good game plan is a classic rookie investor error.  Without a good plan, you have no framework in which to make investing decisions.

Following a good game plan lets you focus on specific areas of the market and identify good trades and investments when they pop up.

Think of it as the difference between strategy and tactics. Your game plan is your strategic planning – your broad overview of what’s going on in the world.  Your trading and investing decisions are your tactics – the execution of your strategy.

No plan will ever be 100% accurate and you’ll need to change as events unfold. But if you take the time to think how the investment environment is changing and how those changes will affect your portfolio, you’ll be much better prepared as an investor.

Over the next few days, I’ll lay out some of the aspects of my own game plan for 2011 – where I see the most opportunity over the next 12 months.

Now that you have the gameplan the next step is to find the investments your going to end up putting your money in. 

We believe the energy sector will benefit greatly, Haliburton (HAL), Schlumberger (SLB), Petrobras,(PBR), Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM). Large-cap tech stocks are another strong bet: Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), Baidu (BIDU) Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), IBM (IBM) and Amazon (AMZN). Other long-term bets would be Chipotle (CMG), Pfizer
 (PFE), and Wal-Mart (WMT).