Like many other major oil stocks, ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is down for the last week, month, quarter and six months of market action.

For the last 52 weeks, ConocoPhillips has dropped, too (chart below).

Projections are that ConocoPhillips and other oil and natural gas stocks will continue to fall.  The exchange traded fund for oil, United States Oil (NYSE: USO), is down more than 30 percent for the last six months of trading.  United States Natural Gas (NYSE: UNG), the exchange traded fund for natural gas, has fallen over 23 percent for the last six months, too.

But there are many reasons for long term investors to be bullish about the future of ConocoPhillips.

It is widely predicted that the demand for oil and natural gas will rise in the years ahead.

That is positive news for United States Oil, United States Natural Gas, and especially ConocoPhillips.  Based in Houston, ConocoPhillips has a strong asset base.  It has strong holdings in North America, which are very appealing.  That is why legendary investor Warren Buffett is a shareholder.

It is due to those robust energy holdings that ConocoPhillips has such bullish earnings projections.

For the next five years, earnings-per-share are projected to rise by 7.42 percent by Wall Street analysts.  Next year, earnings growth of more than negative 10 percent is expected.  That is obviously a bullish projection for the earnings of ConocoPhillips.

The dividend should keep long term investors somewhat pleased until the share price rises.

At present, the dividend yield for ConocoPhillips is 4.22 percent.  That is more than twice the average for a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (NYSE: SPY).  In addition, ConocoPhillips has a history of increasing the dividend amount, which is always alluring for income investors.  This results in a raise for those owning the stock who do not selling any shares when the amount of the dividend is raised!