Still, the Credit Suisse analyst noted Alpha Natural Resources ( ANR ) as most 'levered' to a price recovery that would make coal economic, while highlighting the metallurgical coal operations of Peabody Energy as his top stock pick in the sector due to the company's Australian and emerging market assets. Metallurgical coal is in demand by emerging market economies like China because it is used in the coking process to produce steel. That contrasts to a dim outlook for thermal coal, which is mostly used in power generation and to fuel industrial companies. Natural gas hit decade low prices in 2012, though it has recently rebounded amid a late June and July heat wave. In a late May reappraisal of the coal industry, Goldman Sachs raised its outlook for the sector to attractive from neutral, and highlighted Peabody as its only new buy-rated coal company.