J.P. Morgan Lowers Pride International (PDE) Price Target To $30

J.P. Morgan analysts J. David Anderson, Adam Aron and Samantha Hoh maintained their Neutral rating for shares of Pride International Inc

and lowered their price target to $30 per share, down from the previous price target of $33. The analysts said that among the offshore drillers followed by J.P. Morgan, Pride International Inc was at the greatest risk of a downward earnings revision. They also noted that a delay in any or all of Pride International Inc's three newbuild drillships could hurt the stock's performance. The J.P. Morgan analysts wrote, "Pride shares trade at a premium to the group average on both a current P/E and adjusted-P/E basis. Contract for the Deep Ocean Molokai or a return to work for the idle/stacked rigs could provide further earnings upside, but the stock is expensive in our view and there are better opportunities to put money to work in this space. Our $30 Dec 2010 price target, lowered from $33 previously, is based on 9.7x our 2011E adjusted P/E, above our group price target multiple of 8.9x."