Just a few days after jumping 31% on private placement news, Niko Resources (
TSX:T.NKO,
Stock Forum) has leapt another 18.75% after an analyst from TD Securities set a “speculative buy” rating and an $8 price target on the stock, a 212.5% increase from Friday’s close of $2.56.
The target price was a $1 increase from the previous level of $7.
The stock leveled off at $3.04 after significant early trading set the open at that price.
What set the target price up was that it has closed a deal to raise $340 million in new senior secured term loans and raise another $33 million in a stock offering, as well as repaid its earlier credit facility and loans in full.
The company also agreed to pay $80 million to Diamond Offshore in settlement of a dispute over drilling contracts.
Niko has climbed 67.5% in the last two weeks of trading.
Other analysts haven’t been as charitable in the past, with BMO Capital Markets having set a target of $2.50 in mid-November, and RBC Capital sitting on a $2 target, down from $10 previously, when the company announced its CEO was retiring at year end.
CEO Ed Sampson said, in a
company news release at the time, "With production about to move up in India, a gas price in India about to double, and the recent drilling of what could prove to be the most significant discovery in D6 to date, I feel comfortable this should be my time. I will leave the Company with a very strong and committed management team, led by Jake Brace, Bill Hornaday and Glen Valk. As one of the largest individual shareholders of the Company, I remain extremely excited about the D6 Block and the prospects of Niko in the coming years."
Canaccord Genuity is reported to have a “sell” rating on Niko with a $1.50 target, down from a massive $63 previously.
Niko has a market cap of $213.5 million with 70.2 million shares outstanding.