Investors who bet on oil companies when crude prices were at a nadir benefited from… Oil-and-gas companies that sold shares to raise cash during a vicious collapse in the price of crude finished on top in 2016, rewarded when U.S. oil prices finally turned and closed the year 45% higher . More than 70 North American energy companies sold about $57 billion worth of shares in so-called follow-on stock offerings during the past two years. Many of these shares spent stretches trading below their offering prices , hurting investors who wagered on companies that failed to find footing as well as those who sold out before shares rebounded. A handful of the stock sellers went bankrupt as the price of oil fell by more than half. But most survived, defying widespread predictions that the plunge in crude and high levels of debt would force many more producers out of […]