“Over the last several months the relative performance of energy stocks has dramatically deviated from the price of the commodity, as shown by the blue line falling far under the level of the red line. In other words, energy stocks have underperformed by far more than the correlation with oil would suggest they should have. This provides an opportunity for investors,” reports ETF Daily News.
Related: A Commodities Call for the Remainder of 2017
While OPEC is cutting back to alleviate price pressures, U.S. fracking companies could jump to capitalize on the windfall as crude oil prices jump back above $50 per barrel – according to some estimates, shale oil producers can get by with oil at just over $50 per barrel due to advancements in technology and drilling techniques that have helped cut down costs.
“If oil prices were to move to $60/bbl and the energy sector reverted back to its relative performance trend line, energy would outperform the broad market by 25%,” according to ETF Daily News.
Investors have pulled nearly $666 million from XLE since the start of the current quarter.
For more information on the oil market, visit our oil category.