Today, many investors worry about a “W” shaped recession. That is, they worry that we are on the brink of a second recession that follows shortly after the first.

Others are concerned that inflation will rise as the economy recovers. This explains the recent run-up in gold prices, for example, and the popularity of certain resource stocks (including crude oil stocks), which many investors see as a hedge against inflation. (See below for a full analysis of a diversified producer that’s been moving up recently.)

Stick with well-established companies no matter what the economy does

Many investors and economists spend their lives trying to predict the ebbs and flows of the stock market and the economy as a whole. However, few people, if any, have a consistently successful record of making economic predictions.

So, instead of focusing too heavily on economic predictions, we think you would be far better off building a portfolio of investments that will pay off in a good market, but won’t prove devastating in a bad one. That’s especially true of the part of your portfolio that you devote to stocks in the resource sector.

This crude oil stock’s diverse operations help cut its risk

As with economic indicators, no one can predict future resource prices. Moreover, resource stocks operate in one of the most volatile and erratic stock sectors.

One way you can lower your resource-investing risk is by sticking with companies that are leaders in their fields. Apache Corp. (symbol APA on New York), is a good example. We recently updated our buy/sell/hold advice on the company in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter.

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This crude oil stock’s high-quality reserves and geographic diversity give it an edge over many of its competitors. The company produces oil and natural gas from properties in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, Egypt and Argentina. Apache also benefits from its balanced production: It gets roughly 50% of its production from oil, and 50% from natural gas.

Apache increased its daily production to a record 607,118 barrels (including oil and natural gas) in the third quarter of 2009.

Despite the record production, Apache saw a considerable drop in revenue and earnings in its latest quarter. That’s because both oil and gas prices were lower than they were a year earlier. However, Apache’s plan to add 40,000 barrels to its daily production in 2010 will let it profit even more as energy prices improve with the global economy. Moreover, Apache further cuts its risk by using hedging contracts to lock in selling prices.

For our latest buy/sell/hold advice on Apache and dozens of other companies in the fast-changing U.S. market, you should subscribe to Wall Street Stock Forecaster. Click here to learn how you can get a one month free trial.