Whether or not the price of crude has hit bottom, oil stocks are still likely to appreciate over the next few months, Wolfe Research Managing Director Paul Sankey said Tuesday.

West Texas intermediate crude dropped below $80 a barrel, hitting two-year lows, with some analysts predicting that it could head toward $70 in next year due to oversupply.

“I think there’s a good chance it’s bottomed,” Sankey said. “Certainly, seasonally this is a low, and we think it’s a terrible time to capitulate and go negative. We’re a month away from an OPEC meeting. We do think the Saudis may be trying to scare the other members of OPEC into making cuts with them, which is why the news flow has been so overwhelmingly bearish.”

On CNBC’s “Halftime Report,” Sankey said that the hit to crude prices could be a boon for oil stocks.

“Well, if we’re right and oil’s bottoming and going to go up, you could almost buy oil stock. And the more leverage the better, just because of the weak demand,” he said. “We prefer buying quality, so a highlight name isEOG. We like restructuring and cash returned to shareholders, so we likeHess a lot here. And we like pure dividends, so you could buy a ConocoPhillips or look at European names.”

Even if crude oil prices continue to drop, analysis of historical data from the previous six down cycles suggests that stocks could see an upward swing, Sankey added.

“If you had bought oil stocks 25 percent above the lows, you would’ve made money over the next six months,” he said. “That was a pure quantitative analysis. It’s not our view. It’s actually just what happened in the market.”

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