Wunderlich Securities Sees Compelling Value for Whiting Petroleum Corp.

In a report published Friday, Wunderlich Securities analyst Jason A. Wangler reiterated a Buy rating and $60.00 price target on

. In the report, Wunderlich Securities noted, "Buy-rated Whiting Petroleum (WLL) reported a mixed 4Q14 as EPS of $0.44 were ahead of our $0.34 estimate but below the Street's forecast of $0.51 as production beat expectations but pricing and some additional costs lowered the bottom line. The company also released its full 2015 guidance, which was reduced from the early indications Whiting provided in December as commodity price weakness, specifically oil, continues to hurt the energy industry and seemingly even more so the Williston. Fresh off of its acquisition of Kodiak, the company has ample scale, a strong inventory base of high-impact wells, and is actively focused on driving down costs; all things that we believe should be able to help Whiting succeed in a lower-priced environment and we like the compelling value at these levels." Whiting Petroleum Corp. closed on Thursday at $34.00.