Why This NYSE Floor Trader Is Warning Against Transocean

TJM Investments Managing Director Tim Anderson says the only oil stocks that are secure right now are big international ones.

Names like Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM, Chevron Corporation CVX, ConocoPhillips COP and even BP plc BP, which has the most exposure to Russia, have all held their December lows.

Anderson is a floor trader on the New York Stock Exchange, and he recently joined Benzinga’s #PreMarket Prep to talk about what oil stocks investors should dabble with right now.

“Consensus seems to be that in a new world of $50 oil, it’s the big international majors that are in the strongest position. They’re in the long haul. They can borrow money,” Anderson said.

He warned that it’s the smaller, tertiary names with exotic horizontal land drilling or deep water companies that have a much higher cost of exploration and production.

Transocean LTD RIG is one that Anderson warned against specifically, saying the the stock is yielding 17 percent.

“Any time you see any stock, whether it’s in the oil sector or some other sector, that has an exorbitant yield like 15-20 percent, you just have to have a red flag come up that that dividend has got to be questionable going forward,” he said.

If an investor does want to enter that space, Anderson suggested Schlumberger Limited. SLB as a much safer name, adding that it’s more like the international oil stocks that are in it for the long haul and will survive just about anything.

Listen to the full interview here:

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