In this chart using the ChartLab Pro methodology we are showing the top 5 strongest and weakest energy stocks based on the close of April 16th.  Cumulatively the top 5 names have outperformed the weakest 5 year to date by 28.92% and 12.79% Month to date.   The rankings are not picked by the stocks returns, they are chosen by their technical strength under the ChartLab Pro methodology.

The 5 strongest charts in the energy sector are Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE: WMB), El Paso Corporation (NYSE: EP), Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), and Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE: DO).

The 5 weakest charts in the energy Baker Hughes, Inc. (NYSE: BHI), Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK), Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE: COG), Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE: SWN), and Newfield Exploration Co. (NYSE: NFX).

The infographic below is generated by Chartlabpro.com.

Williams Pipeline’s majority owner, Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB), completed a secondary offering of 26 million shares last week. Both offerings will use proceeds either directly or indirectly to finance Williams Pipeline’s acquisition of Caiman Eastern Midstream LLC, the owner of a gathering system in the Marcellus shale play.

Williams Pipeline’s common units are down -3.5% at $54.33 in a 52-week range of $45.39-$65.39. Williams Cos. shares are down nearly -1% at $31.14 in a 52-week range of $21.90-$33.47.

Williams Cos. priced the offering at $30.59/share this morning, exactly the closing price for the stock last night. As a result, investors have actually sent shares higher today.

Williams Cos. shares are trading now at $30.82 in a 52-week range of $21.90-$33.47. Goldman Sachs added Williams Cos. to its ‘Conviction Buy List’ in late February.

Williams Partners expects significant growth in gathering volumes and NGL production from these assets. There is an estimated 300 trillion cubic feet (Tcfe) of natural gas in place within a 35-mile radius of the system, and a significant amount remains undedicated. The partnership expects the Caiman system to gather more than 2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) and produce approximately 300,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of NGLs and condensate by 2020. It expects the acquisition to be accretive to projected distributable cash flow attributable to partnership operations per LP unit by 2013, with substantial projected growth thereafter.

Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB), which owns 72% of Williams Partners, will buy 16.3 million Williams Partners’ common units for about $1 billion and will waive its 2% general partner incentive distributions for 2012 and 2013 to help finance the deal.

Williams Cos. also announced that it would raise its annual dividend by 55% to $1.20 this year. The company also expects to raise its dividend by 20% in each of the next two fiscal years.

Williams Partners’ common units are down about -2% today, at $59.86 in a 52-week range of $45.39-$65.39. Williams Cos. shares are up more than 3% at $31.40 in a 52-week range of $21.90-$33.47.

Paul Ausick

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 53 points to 12,951.84(-0.41%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 20 points (-0.67%) to 2,966.89, and the S&P 500 fell -0.47% or about 6.5 points to 1,365.66.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank; Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) raised to ‘Conviction Buy List’ at Goldman Sachs (more coverage here); YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW) maintained as ‘underperform’ but target price cut from $15 to $6; Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) cut to ‘neutral’ at Collins Stewart; and Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) cut to ‘hold’ at Deutsche Bank.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is down -12% at $32 after posting a new 52-week low of $31.86 earlier today (more coverage here and here); Vivus Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) is up 6.5% at $22.65 (more coverage here); Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp. (NYSE: KOG) is down -6.2% at $9.70; Ceasar’s Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: CZR) is up 3.9% at $11.28; Constellation Energy Partners LLC (NYSE: CEP) is up up 6.6% at $2.73; DiamondRock Hospitality Co. (NYSE: DRH) is down -3.5% at $9.94; Endeavor International Corp. (NYSE: END) is down -9.7% at $11.54; Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) is down -8.6% at $14.63 (more coverage here); Joy Global Inc. (NYSE: JOY) is down -5.6% at $86.65 (more coverage here); and SemGroup Corp. (NYSE: SEMG) is up 1.53% at $28.55.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Forward Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: FORD) is up about 22% at $2.88. The protective case maker has signed a partnership deal for a waterproof iPad case, and is certainly rising on the prospect of a new iPad 3 announcement next week from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).

Gevo Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO) is up more than 15% at $10.30. The biofuel maker reports earnings after markets close today. The run-up could have the same effect on the market following a weak report from Pacific Ethanol Inc. (NASDAQ: PEIX).

Quad Graphics Inc. (NYSE: QUAD) is up nearly 15% at $15.01. The printing company reported better-than-expected earnings this morning.

Vocus Inc. (NASDAQ: VOCS) is down about -40% at $13.50 after posting a new 52-week low of $13.10 earlier. The marketing and public relations software maker has acquired privately held iContact for $169 million in cash and stock.

SodaStream International Ltd. (NASDAQ: SODA) is down nearly -14% at $40.29. The beverage equipment maker reported what appear to be good earnings today. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Thursday. Auto makers will be reporting February sales figures throughout the day. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, Cleveland Fed president Sandra Pianalto, Fed governor Sarah Bloom Raskin, Atlanta Fed president Dennis Lockhart, and San Francisco Fed president John Williams are giving speeches. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – New US unemployment benefits claims
• 8:30 a.m. – US personal income and outlays report
• 10:00 a.m. – Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index
• 10:00 a.m. – Construction spending
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
• 4:30 p.m. – Federal Reserve balance sheet and money supply

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Paul Ausick

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) cut to Underperform and named the Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC) Cut to Neutral at Collins Stewart.
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) Cut to Neutral at UBS; Started as Neutral at Nomura.
Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE: VMI) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.
Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE: WMB) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs; Started as Overweight at Barclays.
YRC Worldwide. Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW) maintained Underperform but cut target to $6 from $15 at Credit Suisse.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can join our free email newsletter that includes analyst summaries each morning sent right to your inbox.  We also cover top issues such as IPOs, special financial exclusives, mergers and more. Sign up in the box below.

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JON C. OGG

In the firm’s equity income allocations, the firm is selling 100% of its allocation in American Electric Power Co. (NYSE: AEP) at $41.14 and is adding in Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) at $28.22.

As far as growth and income, Argus is recommending to buy CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) at $23.32 and Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) at $79.00; and it is recommending that the model portfolio sell all of its positions in Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) at $97.17 and Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY) at $19.18.

Finally, in mid-cap growth the firm’s model portfolio is buying VeriFone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY) at $37.12 and buying MDU Resources Group Inc. (NYSE: MDU) at $21.50.  It is selling 100% of its position in IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (NYSE: ICE) at $113.13.  Another selling stock, but only by 20% of its allocation is Hain Celestial Group Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN).

Speaking of model portfolios, here were the 5 most undervalued DJIA stocks and the 5 least attractive DJIA stocks based upon consensus targets.  Here are the top 4 DJIA stock picks from Jim Cramer for 2012.

Also, we made a lot of changes this year to the 24/7 Wall St. 2012 Model Dividend Portfolio.

JON C. OGG

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 72 points to 11,504.70, the NASDAQ fell more than 53 points (2.01%) to2,604.04, and the S&P 500 fell 1.26% or more than 15 points to 1,209.89.

Today’s top analyst upgrade and downgrade calls were numerous and included Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and Whole Foods Markets Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM), and about a dozen other companies.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reported better than expected earnings for the quarter, following  yesterday’s positive report from Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC).  Morgan Stanley got a big lift from an accounting gain that lowered the value of its debt by $3.4 billion, thus boosting the bank’s revenue to $9.9 billion. Even without the gain, MS posted EPS of $0.02, There has been a turnaround from the indicated loss in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) after its earnings showed that book value managed to actually grow and the stock was up almost 10% at $6.63 late in the session.

As far as the other big earnings report reactions today (prices within 20 minutes of the closing bell): Apple is down more than -5.5%, at $398.78; Morgan Stanley up 0.3%, at $16.68; Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) is up about 3.5%, at $24.22; Yahoo is up 2.78%, at $15.90.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE: WMB) rose again by another 1.7%, to $29.55, after investors are considering it a cheap merger alternative to the El Paso buyout by Kinder Morgan this week.

Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) had another big day on merger speculation up, up nearly 8%, at $13.83, and here is how it ranks with analysts other price targets for biotechs ahead of the biotech earnings floodgates.

Abbot Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) rose 1.62%, to $53.29, following the announcement of the company’s intention to split its branded drug business from its other product lines.

Oxigene, Inc. (NASDAQ: OXGN)  got a nice boost of about 12.55%, to $1.59, following good data on the survival benefits of its anti-thyroid cancer drug.

Powerwave Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: PWAV) warned of a revenue shortfall of more than 50% for its third quarter. The shares lost nearly -42% of their value, to fall to $0.85, after posting a new 52-week low of $0.68 earlier in the day.

Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (NYSE: AEM) has suspended operations indefinitely at its mine in Val d’Or, Quebec, due to unstable ground and inflows of water. The stock has fallen by -19%, to $46.21.

Stay tuned for Thursday.  We have speeches to watch from Lockhart and Kocherlakota on the docket as well as a 30-year TIPS auction.  Here are some economic releases due in the morning and throughout the day:

• 8:30 Unemployment Benefits Claims for last week
• 8:30 Existing Home Sales
• 10:00 Conference Board’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators
• 10:30 Natural Gas Report
• 4:30 PM Federal Reserve Balance Sheet

Paul Ausick

It also highlights outfits like Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE: WMB) and other hard asset outfits which many may consider to be under the universe of partnerships or MLPs.  Some of the entities which investors may focus on in MLPs ar Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE: PAA), Magellan Midstream Partners LP (NYSE: MMP), and Buckeye Partners LP (NYSE: BPL).

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE: PAA) is worth some $9.2 billion now and at $61.75 it has a 52-week range of $54.90 to $65.96.  Plains All American is in many aspects of transporting and storage, but one stat at the end of 2010 was that it had some 16,000 miles of active crude oil and refined products pipelines, as well as a fleet of trucks, trailers, and tugs various aspects of oil and natural gas.

Magellan Midstream Partners LP (NYSE: MMP) is worth some $7 billion and at $62.37 its 52-week range is $51.00 to $63.14.  Magellan has more than this, but as of the first quarter it operated roughly 9,600 miles of petroleum products pipeline system, 51 terminals, 6 marine petroleum terminals, 1 crude oil storage, 27 petroleum products inland terminals, and a 1,100-mile ammonia pipeline system and 6 associated terminals.

Buckeye Partners LP (NYSE: BPL) is now worth almost $6.1 billion and at $65.45 its 52-week range is $54.51 to $71.67.  Buckeye owns and operates approximately 5,400 miles of pipeline systems and has more than 60 liquid petroleum products terminals on last look. Another segment operates approximately 2,700 miles of third-party pipeline and terminals.

The merger also highlights the ETF (actually an ETN) of JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN (NYSE: AMJ) and the closed-end fund of Kayne Anderson MLP Investment Company (NYSE: KYN).

So, as far as this concerns Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE: WMB), the company is worth $16.5 billion.  At $28.05, its 52-week range is $20.20 to $33.47.  Williams has an exploration and production outfit like El Paso and it also has midstream assets and gas pipelines, although the company’s site notes that its MLP of by Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ) owns and operates most of the company’s interstate gas pipeline assets.  Williams owns approximately 75 percent of Williams Partners, including the controlling general partner interest.  Its  pipelines deliver approximately 14% of the natural gas consumed in the United States.

Williams Companies has earnings estimates of $1.51 EPS for 2011 and $1.78 EPS for 2012, so its $28.05 share price generates a blended forward earnings multiple of about 17-times earnings.  The company has a 2.9% dividend yield and it trades at more than 2-times book value.  As far as how that compares to El Paso Corporation, El Paso’s blended estimates at the current price generates a forward multiple of close to 21-times earnings and more than 4-times its stated book value.

Not all pipeline assets will be acquired.  The value is just too high on a nominal basis for every deal that makes sense on the surface to make sense in raw dollars.  Some players also have provisions which might make a change of control less attractive for a buyer and these are just some of the other companies to consider in the sector.

JON C. OGG

What’s interesting about this deal, from an alternative energy standpoint, is that it shines a light on efforts to allow alt-energy companies to adopt the MLP structure as a way to attract private investment into the sector. This could be a very interesting way to get government out of the business of financing clean energy projects.

A report issued last November by the Center for American Progress and the Coalition for Green Capital recommended that allowing renewable energy to form partnerships similar to MLPs and REITs.  By law, MLPs must derive at least 90% of their income from eligible investments in natural resources, commodities, or real estate. The report argues that renewable energy sources such as wind and sunshine are among the natural resources that should be considered for inclusion.

The problems that the recommendation is trying to solve are the lack of certainty in both the tax code and public policy related to renewable energy financing, and the lack of long-term, low-cost financing available to renewable energy businesses. Allowing MLP structures is only a piece of a the report’s overall recommendations for financing renewable energy, but it’s worth a closer look by itself.

One benefit of this approach is that it does not rely on setting a price for carbon. Cap-and-trade proposals have gotten no traction in Congress and proposals for a carbon tax are even less popular. Where the clean energy MLP idea may have the best application is in the transmission and distribution of renewably-generated electricity. In other words, the grid.

The estimated cost to upgrade the US grid ranges from $500 billion on up. Any chance that the federal government will be able to provide that amount of support directly or in the form of loan guarantees is certainly no better than 50-50. More likely is that concern about federal deficits and debt will push renovation and construction of the grid out for years.

Allowing an MLP/REIT-type setup could serve two purposes. First, it is effectively a corporate tax cut. This concept is very popular with some politicians. Second, it is a tax increase on investors, a concept which is quite popular with other politicians. Both sides could claim victory. From a political perspective, what could be finer?

Second, it could lead to a privatization of the national grid. That may not be a universally popular idea, but its merit is that it eliminates the federal government’s responsibility for paying out gobs of money it does not have and it would instill some certainty into renewable energy projects. Federal and state regulation would still exist, of course, but the virtually guaranteed return on investment that comes with MLPs and REITs could be very attractive to investors.

There probably won’t be much action on this idea until after the 2012 elections. But its simplicity and attractiveness to both ends of the political spectrum may give it a chance of being adopted.

If you think that alternative energy financing is dead, let us consider this week’s other big deal.  With a Department of Energy-backed loan, Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) is financing a massive project that is being undertaken in solar where PV modules are being installed on top of buildings owned and operated by Prologis (NYSE: PLD) and being installed by NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG).  The beat goes on.

Paul Ausick