Venoco Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Venoco (NYS: VQ) rose more than 10% in early trading and remained up more than 9% as the closing bell approached. CEO Tim Marquez spoke at Enercom's The Oil & Gas Conference in Denver today.

So what: I've yet to see a transcript of Marquez's comments, but chances are some Big Money investors were in attendance and liked what they heard.

Now what: Fools would no doubt like to see what it was that drove the buying. Right now, they're on the fence with this energy stock, giving it three out of five stars in Motley Fool CAPS. Or maybe there's no need to wait. Venoco trades for 10.6 times forward earnings, a noticeable discount to the long-term annual earnings growth Wall Street expects. Would you buy at these levels? Weigh in using the comments box below.

Interested in more info on Venoco?Add it to your watchlist.

At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributorTim Beyersis a member of theMotley Fool Rule Breakersstock-picking team. He didn't own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article at the time of publication. Check out Tim'sportfolio holdingsandFoolish writings, or connect with him onGoogle+or Twitter, where he goes by@milehighfool. You can also get his insightsdelivered directly to your RSS reader.Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

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