UPDATE: Barclays Capital Reiterates on CVR Partners LP on Strong Performance Ahead of Spring Demand

In a report published Wednesday, Barclays Capital analyst Matthew J. Korn reiterated an Equal-Weight rating on CVR Partners LP UAN, and raised the price target from $22.00 to $23.00. In the report, Barclays Capital noted, “Catching up with late earnings announcements, nitrogen-producing MLP CVR Partners reported 4Q13 earnings per unit of $0.38, beating Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.33/unit and our estimate of $0.31/unit. The strong results this quarter were driven by better-than-expected UAN sales and pricing compared to our estimates. Hydrogen sales made by the Partnership to the adjacent CVR Refining facility also contributed to the higher net income. Consistent with what we've heard from other fertilizer producers over the reporting season, demand appears strong for nitrogen product ahead of spring planting - prices for UAN have recovered by 34% since the fall trough. "We have adjusted our 2014 estimates in anticipation of higher realizations in 2Q followed by a short plant shutdown in early 3Q to tie in a small (+25t/day) ammonia expansion/debottleneck. For the full year, we project total UAN production at just under 1mm tons (compared to 931k tons in 2013). Our target price increases to $23 as we roll forward our valuation basis to our estimate of a $1.84/unit distribution in 2015.” CVR Partners LP closed on Tuesday at $20.26.