Stifel Upgrades Newfield on Positive Outlook

In a report published Friday, Stifel analyst Amir Arif upgraded

from Hold to a Buy rating with a $32.00 price target. Arif noted the company's underperformance relative to the EPX over the past year, specifically following Newfield's revised 2014-2016 outlook on December 9. Stifel commented, “We believe that NFX is now well priced relative to 2014 outlook (4.3x EBITDA vs. group at 6.0x) and very attractively priced considering 2015 outlooks (3.9x EBITDA) for a domestic resource company that is growing volumes, NAV, and moving towards FCF in the coming two years. Therefore, as the company executes on its domestic resource plan, corporate volume growth returns, and SCOOP/STACK plays firm up an attractive rate of return area with lots of running room, we expect the name to move up from here.” Shares of Newfield Exploration Company closed at $24.77 on Friday.