Is EQT Corporation (EQT) the Best Energy Stock to Buy Right Now?

We recently published a list of the 13 Best Energy Stocks to Buy Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) 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.

READ ALSO: Top 15 Energy Companies With the Highest Upside Potential

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.

Methodology: 

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 (see more details here).

EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT)

No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 88

Next on our list of the Best Energy Stocks to Buy Now is EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT), a leading natural gas producer in the US with production and midstream operations focused in the Appalachian Basin.

EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) reported an adjusted EPS of $1.18 in Q1 2025, topping expectations by $0.17. However, the company’s revenue of $1.74 billion fell short of estimates by over $350 million, despite growing by 23.2% YoY. The natural gas producer’s sales volume of 571 Bcfe during the quarter was at the high end of its guidance, driven by strong well performance and minimal winter weather impact from integrated midstream coordination. Moreover, the company has raised its 2025 production guidance by 25 Bcfe while also lowering capital spending by $25 million. The company also generated over $1 billion during the quarter, nearly twice the consensus free cash flow estimates of the next closest natural gas producer.

In a significant move to further expand its portfolio, EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) recently announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire upstream and midstream assets from Olympus Energy for $1.8 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025 and will significantly enhance EQT’s regional dominance and vertical integration.

EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) was held by 88 hedge funds in the IM database at the end of Q4 2024, up significantly from 48 in the previous quarter.

ClearBridge Investments stated the following regarding EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

“Our top contributor during the period was EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT), North America’s largest natural gas producer. The company continued its upward trajectory from the fourth quarter as the U.S. endured its coldest winter since 1988, spurring an increase in demand. Additionally, the company continues to capitalize on strong operational performance, making additional progress on its goal of deleveraging and extending its lead as the lowest-cost producer in the basin.”

Overall, EQT ranks 5th on our list of the best energy stocks to buy right now. While we acknowledge the potential of EQT 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 EQT but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.