Just been thinking about something the market seems to be sleeping on right now. Everyone's obsessed with AI and consumer plays, but energy stocks are quietly some of the best stocks to buy now if you know where to look.

Here's the thing about energy - it gets no love from most investors. ESG concerns, cyclical nature, all that. But what people miss is that when oil prices spike, it acts as a natural hedge for your whole portfolio. When everything else tanks due to economic disruption, energy producers are printing money.

Let me break down two solid names that are worth paying attention to, and interestingly, both are held by Berkshire Hathaway.

First up is Chevron. This isn't some small player - they're producing around 4 million barrels of oil equivalent daily, which is roughly 4% of global production. They just grabbed Hess for access to Guyana assets, and they're exploring everywhere from Libya to Greece. Their 2026 capex budget is sitting at 18 to 19 billion, so they're serious about expansion. Right now oil's trading around 65 bucks after hitting over 100 back in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. Chevron's currently pulling in about 12.5 billion in annual net income - nowhere near the 30 billion peak they hit in 2022. But here's the upside: if oil prices recover, earnings follow. They're also throwing off a 3.75% dividend, which is solid.

Then there's Occidental Petroleum. Berkshire owns over 25% of this company, which tells you something. They're the natural gas play in the Permian Basin, and this is where it gets interesting. Data centers are about to create massive electricity demand for AI infrastructure. Natural gas is the fastest way to scale that power supply. Occidental's producing less than 1.5 million barrels of oil equivalent daily - smaller than Chevron, but positioned in the right place at the right time. Their earnings are down to 2.5 billion over the last 12 months from over 10 billion at peak, but that's because natural gas prices have cooled off. When electricity demand from AI data centers really ramps up, those prices will spike again. That's the setup.

Both companies are trading well below their peak earnings power. If commodity prices move in the direction the fundamentals suggest, these could be some of the best stocks to buy now for portfolio balance. Worth keeping on your radar.