Tri-Valley Corp (fka TVLYQ)

[jonesieatl]

Surprising Low-Rated Stocks the Leaders Love

(Another interesting mention)

Surprising Low-Rated Stocks the Leaders Love
By Rich Duprey June 24, 2008

Piggybacking on the picks of great investors and money managers can lead to big rewards -- especially when the stocks in question are beaten down. If Buffett finds opportunity in bonds, perhaps you should look there, too. Does Bill Miller think financial stocks are beaten down? Maybe investigating more closely will help improve your own results.

On Motley Fool CAPS, our top-rated All-Star players represent the best 20% of more than 110,000 professional and novice investors. I'm looking among them for those who've chosen one- and two-star stocks to outperform the market. Most CAPS investors might consider these stocks losers, but if our ace contrarians think otherwise, these picks might be worth a look.

Here are a few stocks that have gotten the nod from the cream of our CAPS investors:

Company  CAPS Rating(out of 5) Est. Long-Term EPS Growth   CAPS All-Star    Player Rating 
  
 DTSI          *                        26%                sps2112      99.39 
  
 CC            *                        10%                kitsapbabe   98.95 
  
 TIV           *                        NA                 synergize    97.78 
  
 PDO           *                        NA                 Stockup2day  95.15 
  
 WGO           *                        20%                AssetMangler 94.31

Source: Motley Fool CAPS ratings as of June 23; Yahoo! Finance.

(excerpted)

Boom time

Elevated energy prices have pushed many oil and gas companies to higher levels, but Tri-Valley hasn't been one to cash in. In fact, until it cemented a deal with ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) the other day to refine some 2,000 barrels a day from its Pleasant Valley wells, its shares were actually 30% lower than they were a year ago.

Tri-Valley has been stuck, as it were, because its Pleasant Valley reserves are tar sands, bituminous sand that has extra-heavy oil trapped inside. Its extreme viscosity makes this an expensive form of oil to extract and use. At low price levels, it's not advantageous to try, but with the price of oil sitting well north of $100 a barrel, oil sands make more economic sense.

The new deal has investors like EPS100Momentum holding out hope for outperformance, while junueaujoe is buying into the oil and gas hype and foreseeing explosive growth:

Oil and gas hype ... recent better than expected results after years of disappointment. Proven reserves that could take it into the $50 range in years to come.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/06/24/surprising-low-rated-stocks-the-leaders-love.aspx