Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) shares have been rising over the past month. They are up by 12%. Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) shares have also gone up, rising by 7%.
Both of these numbers have outperformed the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which has only just risen by 6.25%.
It could be interesting to look at which ASX shares are getting more attention from investors.
JP Morgan Index
Reporting by The Australian said that Australian fund managers are being "decidedly downbeat" with their market commentary, levels of cash and defensive holdings, according to JP Morgan analyst Jason Steed.
When looking at JP Morgan's 'Love Index', it was reported that the consumer staples sector was the "favoured defensive refuge".
According to the reporting, Santos "remains the clear preference" over Woodside, and is the "most-loved" company in the love index.
The communications industry was the largest 'overweight' sector, while financials was the most under-held.
Steed wrote:
Holdings in staples climbed again and are now at the highest level since mid-2019. In contrast, managers pulled back sharply on their energy holdings, with the average holding back to a level last seen in October.
Retail remains by far the largest cohort of shareholders in the major banks.
According to Steed's research, retail investors may own around $200 billion of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) bank shares.
How are Woodside and Santos shares performing?
Both businesses recently reported their quarterly updates.
Santos said that it had delivered US$5.9 billion of year to date sales, and third quarter sales of US$2.15 billion.
Free cash flow of over US$1 billion in the quarter reduced the company's gearing to 20.8% at the end of September.
Santos production was 26.1 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe), which was up 2% from the second quarter of 2022. Year to date production was 77.6 MMboe in 2022, up 12% from 2021.
For Woodside, it was the first full quarter of operations since the merger with the BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) petroleum business.
It achieved production of 51.2 MMboe, up 52% from the second quarter of 2022.
Woodside managed to achieve quarterly revenue of US$5.86 billion, up 70% from the second quarter.
Since the beginning of the year, Woodside shares are up 58% while Santos shares have only risen by 16%.
Are Woodside shares a buy?
The broker Macquarie has a price target of $33.10 on Woodside shares, with a neutral rating. It likes Woodside's opportunity when it comes to LNG.
But, Macquarie is much more confident about the prospects of investment returns from Santos. It has an outperform rating on Santos, with a price target of $10 (implying a 30% rise) thanks to Santos generating strong free cash flow.
