Stifel FirstEnergy on Monday reiterated its buy rating on the shares of Baytex Energy while raising its price target to C$7.50 from C$6.75 after the oil and gas producer reported second-quarter results that topped expectations.
"With 11 days of Ranger Oil volumes contributing to its 2Q23 performance, the Company is off to a good start with both production and cash flow modestly beating consensus expectations on lower than anticipated capital investment," analyst Cody Kwong wrote. "Looking ahead we expect Eagle Ford volumes to grow in a meaningful fashion with 24 operated wells (plus 8 non-operated wells to be brought online in 2H23). Baytex also announced a successful heavy oil discovery in the Cold Lake region where a multi-lateral horizontal well generated an IP30 rate of 165 bbl/d. With positive momentum heading in to what we believe will be a positive trading event on September 18th, when Tranche 1 of Juniper's (~19% shareholder) shares become free trading, we are increasing our target price to $7.50/sh and reaffirming our BUY rating.