Here Comes The Rush To Buy Energy Stocks

Everyone is trying to call the bottom on energy names.

In a note on Tuesday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said that net buying of energy stocks among its clients last week was the largest since they started collecting the data in 2008.

Last Thursday, West Texas Intermediate crude surged more than 5% to peak at $51.30 before quickly giving back those gains.

The bank's Jill Carey Hall wrote in a note Tuesday that the surge in buying was nothing compared to last year's sell-off.

And what's more, the firm's commodities team sees oil prices going lower still.

"Inflows last week of $0.8bn were not enough to offset the $3bn in outflows that we saw since late July of last year. Energy flows have generally been correlated with oil prices over the past year, and evidence of a bottom in oil may be necessary to spur sustained energy inflows. Our commodity strategists expect oil to fall further to $31/bbl this quarter before rebounding in 2Q."

A rebound in oil prices would benefit energy stocks. But the news lately out of those company has been negative, as several companies have cut jobs and capital projects as crude oil has lost more than half of its value from mid-2014.