Athabasca rated "outperform" in new coverage Thursday, Sept. 15, ATB Capital Markets analyst Patrick O'Rourke rates Athabasca Oil "outperform" in new coverage. David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. O'Rourke targets the shares at $3.75. Analysts on average target the shares at $3.19. Mr. O'Rourke says in a note: "The appeal of Athabasca's upstream assets and business operations is demonstrated by its low corporate decline and relatively high free cash flow yield, on the back of its high-quality thermal oil sands projects, which the company balances with exposure to flexible, short-cycle, high-NPV, liquids-rich resource plays in the Montney and Duvernay. Leismer has been the company's flagship thermal project, holding a 2.8 times steam-oil-ratio (SOR) in June, while the company's Hangingstone project has a current SOR of 3.8 times. Additionally, Leismer has in place a memorandum of understanding for a carbon capture and sequestration project, with the goal of reducing emissions by 30 per cent by 2025 and to net zero in the long term. The company's CF leverage to oil prices is among the highest in the group, it has the highest 2023 estimated FCF/EV among its oil sands peers."