Murphy Oil Shares Could Stage A 'Relief Rally,' Barclays Says

Barclays’ Paul Y. Cheng believes the 2Q16 results reported by Murphy Oil Corporation MUR will have a neutral to slightly positive impact on the stock’s near-term performance.

Cheng maintains an Overweight rating on the company, with a price target of $42.

Positive For The Stock

“Given the lack of any material incrementally disappointing news, we think the shares could stage a modest relief rally given the negative sentiment surrounding the stock,” the analyst mentioned.

Although Murphy Oil reported its 2Q16 production below the guidance, the 3Q16 and full-year guidance were in line with the prior estimates.

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Excluding special items, the company reported loss of $0.35 per share, beating the estimate and coming in marginally above the consensus.

“The variance vs. our estimate was due to the international segment reporting results $0.24/share higher than our estimate, due to the Syncrude operations being counted as a special item,” Cheng explained.

Positive Steps

The analyst believes Murphy Oil has been able to take helpful steps toward transforming its cash outlook and sustainability, from being among the more distressed companies within Barclays’ coverage.

In addition, Cheng expects the recent acquisition of the Montney and Duvernay asset in Western Canada to help improve the company’s medium-term production outlook, while reducing its need to get back aggressively to deepwater exploration.

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Posted In: Analyst ColorEarningsLong IdeasNewsCommoditiesReiterationMarketsAnalyst RatingsTrading IdeasBarclaysDuvernayMontneyPaul Y. Cheng
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