UPDATE: Stifel Reiterates on Peabody Energy as Australian Mine Issues Force 4Q13 Warning

In a report published Friday, Stifel analyst Paul Forward reiterated a Buy rating on Peabody Energy BTU, but lowered the price target from $27.00 to $26.00. In the report, Stifel noted, “Last night, Peabody Energy announced that issues at two metallurgical coal mines in Australia would result in a $60-$80 million reduction in EBITDA relative to its previous forecast. These issues included a labor dispute (which ended in November) at the Metropolitan hard coking coal mine and delays in the installation of a top-coal caving system at its North Goonyella longwall mine. Metallurgical coal markets remain under pressure from rising Australian and Canadian export volumes and a stronger U.S. dollar/Australian dollar exchange rate. Over the past two days, news emerged of Australian exporter Anglo American's settlement of 1Q14 benchmark hard coking coal contracts with customers at $143/tonne for premium coal qualities, down from the 4Q13 contract price of $152/tonne.” Peabody Energy closed on Thursday at $19.13.