The majority of the names on our Focus List have benefited from the recent strength in crude-oil prices, a tailwind that has propelled several stocks above our buy targets—a high-quality problem and a welcome development after the energy sector’s performance last year.

Although we’re glad that our bullish outlooks for oil prices (an out-of-consensus view in the back half of 2017) and energy stocks have panned out, the forward-looking market doesn’t reward self-congratulation and complacency. Accordingly, the big question centers on what will come next for oil prices and energy stocks.

As we noted in the April 30 issue of Energy & Income Advisor, the fundamental backdrop for oil prices appears favorable over the next few years, as recent under-investment in exploration and development outside the US results in a steepening decline rate.

We’ve launched an actively managed model portfolio to help readers prepre for what’s next.

Oil-field services giants Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) and Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) perform work for large integrated oil companies like Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM), national oil companies like Saudi Aramco, and smaller independents. These two giants operate in just about every oil- and gas-producing country in the world and provide indispensable services.

By virtue of their geographic reach and diversified service and product offerings, Halliburton and Schlumberger’s management teams have a bird’s-eye view of the oil industry that they often share during their quarterly earnings calls.

In the almost 20 years I’ve covered the energy sector, the insights gleaned from their conference calls have furnished countless investment ideas and read-throughs throughout the energy value chain. The first quarter was no exception.

During Schlumberger’s first-quarter earnings call, CEO Paal Kibsgaard discussed the looming air pocket in global oil supply–a consequence of the industry slashing spending on exploration and development. We’ve discussed this risk at length in Energy & Income Advisor, but early evidence of this shortfall has emerged.

Although the global push to break away from the internal combustion engine continues to gain traction, this process won’t take place overnight. Widespread adoption of fully electric vehicles will require improvements in driving range, battery cost and charging times. There’s also the need to build out sufficient charging infrastructure.

A large-scale shift toward electric vehicles would also necessitate significant investment in the grid. Simulations conducted by Matteo Muratori, a transportation and energy systems engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, found that uncoordinated charging of plug-in electric vehicles could present challenges for the grid. Potential solutions to this quandary reside in the application of big data and machine to machine communications to balance the load.

In addition to electric vehicles, the auto industry and leading technology players continue to pursue autonomous driving, an innovation that leverages advances in processing power as well as data storage and transmission. Early efforts in this direction have produced some tragic results, with Tesla possibly overstating—or drivers misinterpreting—the capabilities of its autopilot function.

These developments, coupled with the rise of ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft, have contributed to visions of a future where a fleet of autonomously driven vehicles starts to erode individual ownership of automobiles, especially in urban areas.

Speculating and arguing about these potentialities can be a stimulating experience; however, investing based on a concretized view of an uncertain future often results in more pain than profits. We would remind readers that a good story doesn’t always make for a good investment.

The transportation segment appears ripe for disruption, but this evolutionary process will take place over a longer time frame than some overexuberant investors expect.

In picking stocks with exposure to this theme, we aim to identify names that also offer leverage to near-term upside catalysts; the slice of pie on your plate offers more sustenance than the pie in the sky.