Mad Money’s Cramer Picks Top Ten Nat Gas Stocks (CHK, XTO, APC, DVN, UPL)

Mad Money’s Jim Cramer suggests that the U.S. should focus on natural gas untill alternative energies become viable. Natural gas is a cleaner commodity than coal or oil, and the U.S. is sitting on 2 quadrillion cubic feet or more of it. Job creation is another plus, and he expects the price per thousand cubic feet to rise to $6 or $7 in 2010 from the present low of $4. Cramer has picked the ten names that he expects to benefit from the shift to natural gas.

Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) leads the pack as it owns 9 out of 52 rigs in the Marcellus shale as well as 1.45 million net acres there. Best of all, Chesapeake is in a position to tap most of it. XTO Energy (NYSE: XTO) will benefit immensely from a price rise, and XTO CEO Bob Simpson is lobbying to push the natural gas agenda in Washington. Anadarko (NYSE: APC) is up 66% despite a fall in gas prices, and more than two-thirds of Devon’s (NYSE: DVN) properties are natural gas.

Ultra Petroleum (NYSE: UPL) is another believer in the natural gas rebound. Ultra is drilling 35 wells, well above the originally planned 23. EQT (NYSE: EQT) scores on high margins and low costs.
Range Resources (NYSE: RRC) and Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) are other stocks that Cramer is bullish on. Clean Energy (NASDAQ: CLNE) has the largest chain of natural gas stations, and has risen 247% since Cramer’s call in 2008. Fuel Systems (NASDAQ: FSYS) also stands to gain from the proposed NAT GAS Act.