So what does he like? There's plenty of value left in energy stocks, particularly natural gas. One example is St. Mary Land and Exploration (SM), which has a market cap of $3.5 billion and is trading at roughly 11 times this year's consensus estimate of $4.74 a share, and 4.5 times Ebitda. The peer group grades at 6 to 10 times Ebitda, he says.

He's an even bigger fan of Cimarex Energy (XEC). with a market cap of $5.2 billion. About 70% of its production is natural gas. Analysts expect Cimarex to earn $8.22 a share this year and $7.43 a share next year. The stock trades at 62, or 7.5 times this year's earnings. Debt is just 12% of capital. Given this strong balance sheet, Cimarex can be "almost completely unhedged," meaning rising gas prices buoy earnings. Evans figures Cimarex's enterprise value is just 3 to 3.5 times Ebitda, versus 6 to 10 times for peers. The shares are so cheap because the company underestimated its drilling budget and overestimated production early last year, underwhelming investors. That's changed: "The company is on track to deliver high single-digit production growth," he says.

While he's no fan of financials, he spies opportunities in debt collectors like Asset Acceptance Capital (AACC), which buys charged-off consumer receivables from credit-card companies. While the market is cool to the stock, Evans figures earnings conditions have been improving as delinquencies have climbed. "Anybody looking to invest in Asset Acceptance needs to look at the next one to three years, as demand explodes and nontraditional buyers like hedge funds reduce their exposure," says Evans. "That leaves Asset Acceptance to buy charged-off receivables at much better prices, and the high rates of return work their way through its portfolio." He thinks Asset Acceptance's earnings power is "well over $1." Analysts on average expect the company to earn 77 cents a share this year and 92 cents a share next year. "It's heavily out of favor, and frankly, underfollowed. But they have the wind at their back, and the fundamentals are getting better." Last week, Asset Acceptance's stock traded at 9.99.