UPDATE: Noble Financial Upgrades Gastar Exploration to Buy, Reiterates $6 PT as Value Should Rise

In a report published Thursday, Noble Financial analyst Philip Dodge upgraded the rating on

from Hold to Buy, and reiterated the $6.00 price target. In the report, Noble Financial noted, “Taking the full brunt of the bear market in E&P stocks, Gastar now sells at a price that discounts growth, with value likely to rise as production increases at an above-average rate (for example guidance 40% in 2015). Our WTI crude oil price assumption for 2015 is $80, or say higher if Saudi cuts production and lower if they do not, and Henry Hub gas (76% of volume at $4.00). Gastar has already reduced the capital budget to $173 million from $257 million for 2015, when focus will be on the stacked pays in central Oklahoma and the Utica shale in Appalachia. Liquidity was about $200 million on September 30; It should be adequate well into next year. Our price target is $6, equivalent to $100,000 for existing barrels of production or less than the $135,000 average for the small-cap peer group.” Gastar Exploration closed on Wednesday at $2.58.