3 Energy Stocks to Avoid, Even With Oil Prices Rising

Crude oil prices have risen roughly 50% since November, significantly lifting the prices of energy stocks. Surely, higher oil and products prices benefit energy companies, from upstream producers to downstream refiners. However, before buying energy stocks, you should consider how badly a company's performance will be affected if oil prices fall again -- a very plausible scenario given oil's historical volatility. Here are three energy stocks to avoid unless you are super confident in steady oil prices from here on.

Oil and gas major BP (NYSE: BP) faces two key challenges that make me wary of buying it right now. The first one is the company's debt load. BP is the most leveraged among top integrated oil companies. It's debt-to-equity and debt-to-capital ratios are highest among its top peers by a considerable margin.