SM Energy, Range Resources among oil producers upgraded by J.P. Morgan

Gulfport Energy

15/09/2021 19:48

** Shares of oil exploration and production cos SM Energy
 SM.N  and Range Resources  RRC.N  surge 12.5% and 9.3%,
respectively
    ** Matador Resources  MTDR.N  up 6.9%, Gulfport Energy
 GPOR.N  tacks on 5.3% and Southwestern Energy  SWN.N  rises
3.7%
    ** Gains come amid higher oil prices and rally of oil stocks
on Wednesday  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2QH0AS  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2QH2XE
    ** Brokerage J.P. Morgan gives its outlook on E&P sector for
H2 and 2022; says while 2021 was about using excess FCF to
reduce debt and fix balance sheets, "2022 is shaping to be one
of cash return to equity holders"
    ** JPM upgrades SM to "overweight" from "neutral" with PT of
$27; says SM balances debt reduction with resource expansion and
sees SM benefiting from its natural gas and natural gas liquids
businesses
    ** Brokerage upgrades RRC to "neutral" from "underweight"
with PT of $20 based on RRC's "strong natural gas and liquids
fundamentals" including light hedging
    ** JPM upgrades MTDR to "overweight" from "neutral" with PT
of $37; expects higher cash returns from MTDR in 2022
    ** Brokerage upgrades GPOR to "neutral" from "underweight"
with PT of $88; believes GPOR emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy
with a stronger balance sheet and lower operating costs
    ** Downgrades SWN to "underweight" from "neutral" with a PT
of $6; says co's large natural gas hedges have reduced its
operating leverage to commodity fundamentals in 2022

 (Reporting by Ruhi Soni in Bengaluru;)
 ((Ruhi.Soni@thomsonreuters.com;))