Expand Energy Corporation (EXE): Among the Best Energy Stocks to Buy Right Now

Yahoo

10-05-2025

We recently published a list of the . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) stands against other best energy stocks.
The worldwide energy industry has recently been rattled by a combination of factors, including the trade war sparked by President Trump's tariffs, the prospects of a global economic slowdown, and the sharp slump in crude oil prices. As a result, at the time of writing this piece, the overall energy sector has fallen by 4.64% since the beginning of 2025, compared to declines of almost 3.6% by the wider market.
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The steep downturn in global crude prices has particularly hit hard, and there appear to be no signs of a reversal as of yet, since the supply is projected to increase while demand forecasts keep falling. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price fell to just over $57 a barrel earlier this week, a level it last hit during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. However, it has slightly recovered since then and is currently hovering just around the $61 mark, buoyed by hopes of a breakthrough in looming trade talks between the US and China. Still, the low prices and higher costs due to tariffs on steel and aluminum have pushed many American oil producers to put the brakes on drilling new wells.
However, the same cannot be said about natural gas and its liquified state, LNG, which has especially fared well under the Trump administration. On his very first day in office, the President ordered the resumption of LNG export approvals and has started rolling back environmental regulations that slowed projects. The United States is already the largest LNG exporter in the world, with a record 11.9 billion cubic feet per day of outflows in 2024. These numbers are now expected to receive a significant boost, as the US Energy Information Administration has forecasted the country's LNG exports to 15.2 bcfd this year. Europe remains the top destination for American LNG, accounting for over 75% of total orders this year. The continent has had to rely significantly more on imported LNG and less on gas delivered via pipelines from Russia since the Putin government's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The ongoing AI boom is also expected to be a significant growth factor for the natural gas industry, which has emerged as the leading contender to power its data centers. These energy-intensive facilities could consume as much as 9% of all energy generated in the US by 2030, and this energy needs to come from a relatively clean, flexible, and reliable source that is abundantly available in the form of natural gas. According to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights, if even a quarter of the projected data center load is supplied by gas-fired generation, this would translate to a 2% increase in total US gas demand in 2040.
The price of natural gas has more than doubled since March 2024, offering a significant lifeline for America's oil and gas sector in the last quarter, especially with the plunging crude prices denting their profits.
A large natural gas pipeline snaking through a rural landscape.
To collect data for this article, we scanned Insider Monkey's database of hedge funds' stock holdings and picked the top 13 companies operating in the energy sector with the highest number of hedge fund investors in Q4 of 2024. The following are the Best Energy Stocks According to Hedge Funds.
At Insider Monkey, we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points ().
No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 71
Formed in 2024 by the merger of Chesapeake Energy Corporation and Southwestern Energy Company, Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) is the largest natural gas producer in America. The company is focused on responsibly developing an abundant supply of natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids, with assets concentrated across ~1.83 million net acres in the Appalachia and Haynesville basins.
Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) had a strong Q1 2025 as its adjusted EPS of $2.02 topped expectations by $0.16. The company's revenue of $2.3 billion was also above estimates by over $57 million. EXE also reported a net cash flow from operating activities of $1.09 billion despite an overall net loss of $249 million. The company had a production rate of approximately 6.79 Bcfe/d during the quarter, with 92% from natural gas. These numbers are expected to receive a significant boost since Expand Energy plans to increase its rig count to approximately 15 by the end of 2025, with an investment of $2.7 billion.
Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) expects to achieve approximately $400 million in synergies in 2025 and $500 million by year-end 2026. The company has also hit some significant milestones recently, including joining the S&P index and achieving an upgrade to investment grade by Moody's.
Overall, EXE ranks 13th on our list of the best energy stocks to buy right now. While we acknowledge the potential of EXE as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than EXE but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at .