A new year offers an excellent opportunity for a reset, and that’s exactly what we’re up to here. What follows is a new list of 12 portfolio holdings with the best risk/reward ratio for 2014, replacing the prior best buys (though many of the names already enjoyed this designation.)  The listing order is based on our estimates these stocks’ short-term prospects (roughly over the next couple of months.)

1. Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI)

The energy infrastructure builder has returned 38 percent since joining the Growth portfolio on March 27, and even more impressively 73 percent over the last 12 months.

What’s changed since? CBI’s merger with the almost equally large Shaw Group has gone from a major looming execution risk to a steal of a deal that’s doubled the company’s scale in an industry where size definitely matters.

Also, the US government began to serially approve pending applications for liquefied natural gas export projects taking advantage of cheap US natural gas. CBI, which specializes in LNG infrastructure, has already snagged one big domestic prize in a pair of contracts to build the first two liquefaction trains for the Freeport Liquefaction Project, valued at $5 billion, and has done preliminary work on two other such Gulf Coast ventures.

More generally, increased confidence in the productive capacity of the Marcellus shale has spurred a number of export projects for natural gas liquids and plans to burn them in new petrochemical plants. For CBI, that’s translated into a recent $270 million contract to build a Pennsylvania propane export terminal and a $1 billion award to build an ethylene plant in Texas.

The other thing that happened shortly after our recommendation was revelation that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) had climbed aboard; as of Sept. 30 it had accumulated a stake of 9.55 million shares at an average price of $67.77, and a present value of $773 million. David Tepper of Appaloosa Management is another recent big-name CBI investor.

The company recently forecast revenue growth of approximately 18 percent this year. Earnings per share are expected to increase 25 percent this year, and while the stock’s hardly dirt-cheap at 15.5 times 2014 earnings per share, it remains inexpensive given the likelihood of continued strong growth over the next several years. A trailing Enterprise Value/EBITDA ratio of 12.5 and the relatively unlevered balance sheet leave plenty of room for share buybacks, which CBI missed the opportunity to initiate last year. Buy CBI below $84.

2. Carrizo Oil and Gas (Nasdaq: CRZO)

Carrizo is up a quick 7 percent since its debut in the Aggressive Portfolio on Dec. 11, and that’s a comedown from the nearly 14 percent windfall as of Dec. 27. The stock seems to be responding to the pullback in domestic crude prices, with the WTI dropping from $100 on Dec. 27 to $92 today. But that’s just normal volatility; the most striking thing about today’s price is how close it is to prices on the same date the three prior years. Whereas Carrizo is a completely different company than three years ago, one that’s shed its reliance on natural gas and is now deriving the vast bulk of its profits from crude, and specifically from a prolific Eagle Ford position where at current oil prices drilling wells promises a 70 percent annual return rate.

Carrizo’s drilling in the Eagle Ford boosted its crude output  47 percent last year, with another 40+ percent increase forecast for 2014. The surging profits have reduced financial leverage to uncommonly low levels for producers of this size, leaving little doubt as to Carrizo’s ability to continue to exploit its opportunities in the Eagle Ford as well as the Utica, Marcellus and Niobrara shales.

Market cap plus net debt (i.e., Enterprise Value) add up to less than 8 times the EBITDA for the last 12 months, yet surging crude output should give a comparable boost to Carrizo’s cash flow this year, with scope for more of the same in 2015. This is a company unusually leveraged to the outstanding results seen in the nation’s highest-return shale oil play. Buy CRZO below $46.

3. Targa Resources (NYSE: TRGP)

This is a natural gas gatherer and processor (and lately a crude gatherer as well) uniquely positioned to profit from the ongoing surge in natural gas liquids volumes and the accelerating exports of these NGLs as liquefied petroleum gas.

Targa is a new recommendation in this issue, but has returned nearly 13 percent since it was recommended in our sister publication, MLP Profits, on Nov. 15.

Why is it among the best buys for the near term as well as all of 2014 despite the recent ramp? Because the ramp itself has come in response to surging NGL prices, which will increase Targa’s near-term profits as well as the value of its rapidly expanding Galena Park LPG export terminal near Houston. The terminal sits in close proximity to Mont Belvieu, Texas, the Gulf Coast NGL fractionation hub at which Targa’s capacity is second only to industry giant Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD).

That capacity is set to be expanded under a recently announced joint venture with Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP), which will depend on a new north-south pipeline proposed by Kinder Morgan and Mark West Energy Partners (NYSE: MWE) for shipping NGLs from the Utica and Marcellus down to Mont Belvieu. The fractionated purity products could then be exported via Galena Park, which can process as much as 4 million barrels of LPG a month after the recently completed expansion phase and will be able to handle as much as 6 million barrels a month after the second expansion phase set to be completed this fall.

The Galena Park terminal is a valuable strategic asset, as are Targa’s gathering operations in the Permian basin, Barnett shale and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, all in close proximity to the Gulf Coast.

Targa Resources is the general partner of the sponsored Targa Resource Partners (NYSE: NGLS) master limited partnership, which is forecasting 20 percent growth in EBITDA this year. But TRGP’s incentive distribution rights allow it to forecast dividend growth of at least 25 percent this year, from a current payout yielding 2.5 percent.

On a consolidated basis, Targa looks pretty inexpensive at an Enterprise Value/trailing EBITDA multiple of 11, especially given its rapid growth. Buy TRGP below $97.

4. Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB)

Williams had returned 13 percent since we recommended it on Oct. 9, aided by the recent news that two activist hedge funds are negotiating with management on a broad range of strategies to improve shareholder returns.

The case for Williams starts with its assets, which include a leading gathering position in the fast-growing drilling operations in the US Northeast, gathering and petrochemical assets on the Gulf Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico, a key pipeline linking the Northeast to the Gulf Coast, and Mid-Continent gathering, processing and pipeline assets, in addition to interests in Canada.

The East Coast heft, through a variety of ventures, is especially promising, given the profit opportunities in linking the bountiful Marcellus and Utica shales with the major eastern US population centers and gas consumption hubs.

Though not a master limited partnership itself, Williams is poised to benefit disproportionately in the coming years from incentive distribution rights in the affiliated MLP Williams Partners (NYSE: WPZ) as well as Access Midstream Partners (NYSE: ACMP), since Williams owns 50 percent of ACMP’s general partner interests.

The dividend currently yields 3.9 percent and is forecast by the company to increase 20 percent this year and next, though this year’s rise will come from a narrowing of the distribution coverage ratio rather than cash flow growth as a result of a pending asset dropdown to Williams Partners.

At 16 times Enterprise Value/trailing EBITDA Williams is pricey even by the standards of midstream MLPs. But the growth and value-creation opportunities are such that this is a price worth paying. Buy WMB below the increased target of $42.

5. EQT (NYSE: EQT)

One of the leading Marcellus gas drillers has returned 29 percent since joining the Growth portfolio on April 24, and is poised to continue to outperform as proceeds from the recent sale of its distribution business drive continued rapid production gains. Production were up 42 percent year-over-year in the third quarter, and is forecast by the company to increase at least 28 percent in 2014.

That might be low, because after realizing $720 million from the gas distribution divestiture EQT plans capital spending of $2.4 billion in 2014, up from $1.5 billion last year. The new spend is to be financed largely from cash on hand, divestiture proceeds and operating cash flow that’s expected to reach $1.5 billion. The bulk of the capital spending will be lavished on Marcellus well drilling that, even at $4 per thousand cubic feet of natural gas, promises an annual after-tax return rate of 58 percent.

At an Enterprise Value/trailing EBITDA ratio of 11.4, EQT looks cheap relative to its growth and potential. And it retains a secret weapon in its sponsorship of the affiliated master limited partnership EQT Midstream (NYSE: EQM), which owns 30 percent of EQT’s midstream assets and fetches a much richer EV/EBITDA of 21 as a debt-free partnership with a fast-growing distribution.

That means EQT could continue to improve its cost of capital by dropping more midstream assets to the MLP, or by selling more of its 42.6 percent limited partnership stake. Notable hedge fund investors in EQT include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors, which reduced its position by 16 percent to 2.8 million shares in the third quarter, and Dan Loeb’s Third Point, which opened a new 1 million share position during that period. Buy EQT below $95.     

6. Cabot Oil & Gas (NYSE: COG)

Cabot is, by EQT’s reckoning at least, the only Marcellus producer that’s go it beat both in finding & development costs and operating expenses per unit of production. Unlike EQT, it’s concentrated in the dry-gas window of northeast Pennsylvania, and so isn’t getting the same boost from the NGL rally. But it’s locked up a lot of land in the dry-gas sweet spot, and as a result its production is growing even faster than EQT’s: up at least 50 percent last year and forecast to grow 30 to 50 percent in 2014.

All of that growth will be financed out of operating cash flow that was recently showing a 60 percent gain year over year, with leftovers financing the modest dividend and, increasingly, share buybacks.

While Cabot is not liquids-rich, it is poised to increasingly benefit from LNG exports, recently signing a 20-year deal with a Sumitomo subsidiary to export 350 million cubic feet of gas per day (more than 23 percent of current output) via the Dominion Cove Point LNG terminal once that Chesapeake Bay facility comes on line in 2017. The Constitution Pipeline due to be completed next year will offer a quicker boost to takeaway capacity by linking Cabot’s wells with lucrative Northeast wholesale hubs.

The company’s production costs keep dropping as it shifts to pad drilling in the Marcellus, with unit costs recently down 15 percent year over year and forecast to drop another 10 percent in 2015. Some of the savings are being redeployed to a small but promising position in the Eagle Ford, where Cabot is now fielding two rigs and plans to deploy 25 percent of this year’s drilling budget.

Right now the valuation seems a bit pricey at an Enterprise Value/trailing EBITDA ratio of nearly 16. But if, as seems quite likely, EBITDA can expand 40 percent this year and next, the current price will yet look cheap in hindsight. This Growth portfolio pick has returned a relatively tame 18 percent since its debut on March 13, but no company we track has delivered as consistently on ambitious promises. Buy COG below $42.50.        

7. Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN)

The gas producer with a growing taste for crude is up 3.4 percent since joining the portfolio on Sept. 25, but we’ll be the first to admit that this is no runaway train, but rather the same Devon that has forged no lasting capital gains since 2005. Following the financial meltdown natural gas prices collapsed, but not before Devon liquidated oil interests overseas to focus on domestic gas. Management has historically preferred capital efficiency over growth, a preference investors haven’t shared until very recently.

It remains to be seen whether Devon’s recent $6 billion move into crude drilling in the Eagle Ford will prove as much of a bargain as it hopes and expects. But it should provide a quick boost to the bottom line, while its gas wells will give Devon upside exposure to a long-term gas price increase as LNG exports ramp. The new midstream venture with Crosstex Energy (Nasdaq: XTXI) has upside as well given the lofty MLP valuation it will garner.

In a new investor presentation, Devon plots a 25 percent annual production growth over the next four years in the Eagle Ford, identified as a core development play alongside the Permian Basin and assets in the Canadian oil sands. The latter were a cash flow drain last year but should be a wash in 2014, then generate more than $400 million next year and double that the year after.

The company has lots of flexibility with the development of Eagle Ford and its other priorities set to be financed out of operating cash flow and more than $6 billion in cash available to offset the purchase price. Even without the Eagle Ford, revenue was up 32 percent on higher realized prices in the latest quarter, while operating cash flow grew 18 percent from a year ago. Yet Devon trades at a EV/EBITDA of 5.5, less than half that of EQT’s or Cabot’s. The discount gives it as much upside as any name on this list. Buy DVN below $67. 

8. EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG)

The leading US shale crude producer has returned 35 percent over the last 12 months and 146 percent since joining the Growth Portfolio in 2009. EOG’s prolific Eagle Ford wells are the envy of the industry, and the main reason oil and condensate production grew 39 percent for a second straight year in 2013.

The cash margin per barrel of oil equivalent produced expanded too, to more than $40, boosted by company-owned rail terminals that have allowed it to get sell its barrels at a higher price in the more lucrative markets, improved hydraulic fracturing techniques and the use of internally sourced fracking sand.

Third-quarter revenue was up 20 percent from a year ago, while operating cash flow in the first nine months of 2013 was up 50 percent over the same stretch in 2012.

At EV/EBITDA of 7.3 the stock is priced at a discount to Bakken peers Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR) and (NYSE: OAS) despite a superior balance sheet and industry-leading rates of return. The price has slid 10 percent from October’s record high, but is consolidating just below its 50-day moving average. One director has invested $1.5 million at prices just above Wednesday’s over the last two months. Buy EOG below $180.

9. Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB)

The leading global oil services provider is up 22 percent over the last 12 months in the Growth portfolio, but down 8 percent from October’s two-year high, amid concern about the price of crude and producers’ ability to maintain the demanding investment pace continued output growth will require.

The entire oil services group has been weak; since Dec. 17 the Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (NYSE: OIH) has underperformed the S&P 500 by nearly 4 percentage points.  Yet company management outlined expectations for another strong year in a December presentation, once again targeting a doubke-digit gain in earnings per share after a 24 percent third-quarter increase driven by fatter margins.

Schlumberger’s North American land operations continue to experience persistent margin pressure, but the company’s dominant international business, especially in the Middle East, has been a gold mine.

As for the competitive landscape, the only thing that’s changed in recent years is the size of Schlumberger’s lead over its smaller and less efficient rivals. In 2011, its margin lead over the average for Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) and Weatherford International (NYSE: WFT) was at 270 basis points. By now that’s tripled to more than 800 basis points. The opening of Iraq’s oil industry to Western investment has played into Schlumberger’s international strength, as will the reforms that promise to open up Mexico’s oil industry to foreign investment. Beyond Mexico, the oil industries of Venezuela and Iran are in dire need of new technology and expertise. Schlumberger will be among the biggest winner as the horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies it’s helped pioneer spread overseas. And in the meantime superior management, operational efficiencies and geographic diversification limit downside risk. Buy SLB below $100.

10. Sunoco Logistics (NYSE: SXL)

The crude-focused pipeline shipper has produced a nearly eight-fold return since joining the Conservative portfolio in 2006, long before the 2012 buyout by Energy Transfer Partners (NYSE: ETP). It’s also up 44 percent in the last 12 months and 15 percent since we upgraded it from Hold to Buy on Aug. 14.

Over the long-term, SXL’s cash flow growth will be slowed by the typically generous incentive distribution rights owed to ETP and ultimately ETP’s general partner Energy Transfer Equity (NYSE: ETE). But over the next couple of years that negative will be trumped by the big growth opportunities opening up as rising volumes of domestic oil and gas will require transport to coastal processing hubs and ultimately to export markets abroad.

Sunoco is investing heavily in several such projects, including several expanding crude takeaway capacity in the Permian basin, another to bring Midwest refined fuel eastward and others that will move the surplus of natural gas liquids from the Marcellus and the Utica both east and west.

During the third quarter, diminished crude differentials took a big bit out of marketing income, causing a year-over-year dip in distributable cash flow. But those differentials have since widened again, and over the first nine months of 2013, distributable cash flow was up 14 percent from 2012, underpinning 20 percent annual distribution growth. This year Sunoco plans to invest $1.4 billion in growth projects, up from 900 million last year. Yet relatively modest debt leverage of 2.5 times EBITDA means it can do so without curtailing the growth in its payout, as last year’s investments begin to bear fruit.

At 11.6 times EV/EBITDA valuation is cheap by MLP standards, especially given the bright growth prospects. The current yield is 3.4 percent, with ample coverage. Buy SXL below the increased price target of $80.

11. First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR)

The solar panels supplier and utility-scale generation projects builder has been among the Growth Portfolio’s brightest stars, returning 40 percent since our Aug. 28 recommendation.

But lately doubts have set in about the durability of the business momentum seen late last year, and the stock has retreated 20 percent from its mid-November high.

The decline was hastened this week by a Goldman Sachs downgrade from Buy to Sell, citing the risk of future earnings shortfalls as the growth rate in utility-scale projects falls way short of the surge in rooftop installations.

It’s true that First Solar’s results tend to be extremely lumpy and subject to periodic disappointments, such as the one that allowed us to buy low in August. But Goldman’s call gets the big picture wrong by imagining that the moderately growing utility-scale solar business is competing against rooftops rather than the increasingly expensive fossil fuels that continue to dominate the power generation business.

And, in contrast to the increasingly expensive drilling for hydrocarbons, First Solar’s efficiency conversion ratios keep going up, making its desert solar farms plenty competitive against fossil fuels and rooftop panel technologies alike.

There is risk here sure, but this is a company that remains quite cheap at 5.4 times EV/EBITDA and with a growing net cash pile of $1.3 billion to ease the cyclical up and downs. Down the road, a sponsored yield vehicle could reward First Solar with significantly higher valuations for some of its assets. And the upside from incremental technological advances and potential industry consolidation remains high.

We’re not deterred because Goldman now prefers the ostensibly more valuable but perpetually profitless Solar City (Nasdaq: FSLR) to the cash cow First Solar has become. Buy FSLR below $67.

12. Seadrill (NYSE: SDRL)

The deep-water drilling rig operator has returned nearly 12.6 percent over the last 12 months and 272 percent since joining the Aggressive portfolio six years ago. But it’s dropped 17 percent from its September high and 12 percent since a November warnings about a temporary slowdown in client spending sent investors scurrying for the exits.

The decline looks overdone, especially in light of Seadrill’s strong cash flow growth outlook, with fourth-quarter EBITDA on track for a 15 percent sequential gain and en route to a $4.5 billion annual run rate by 2016, based on a $19 billion backlog of orders, mostly from major drillers.

As the owner of the newest and most technologically advanced fleet, Seadrill is less exposed than competitors to a slowdown it has described as a “momentary pause.” And while its weak recent trading trend can’t and shouldn’t be ignored neither should the current 9.5 percent yield, which speaks to robust cash generation as well as Seadrill’s legendary willingness to take on debt. Net debt is up to 13.6 billion, which may prove too high should rates rise much higher, but for the moment has rewarded shareholders with top-notch assets and cheap leverage.

Seadrill’s made money for us and other investors over the years in a variety of commodity and interest-rate regimes and the secular trend toward more deep-water drilling as the old oilfields run dry will not be long sidetracked by the near-term US shale drilling boom. For many of Seadrill’s clients, the opportunity to invest in US shale economically has come and gone, yet depleted reserves must still somehow be replaced. Seadrill will play a major role in their quest for crude for years to come. Buy SDRL below $50.