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SNC-Lavalin snags Ontario’s DBA Engineering© Christinne Muschi / Reuters/Reuters

Inside the Market's roundup of some of today's key analyst actions. This file will be updated during the trading day.

More analysts are hiking their price targets on Painted Pony Petroleum Ltd., impressed by its production growth outlook at a time when the stock continues to trade at a discount to its historical trading levels.

Canaccord Genuity added the stock to its "focus list" - its favourite investing ideas - as analyst Anthony Petrucci raised his price target to $22 (Canadian) from $18 and reiterated a "buy" rating. AltaCorp Capital Research analyst Jeremy McCrea hiked his target to $19 from $17 and reiterated an "outperform" rating.

Mr. Petrucci  notes the stock is still only trading at an estimated 2016 enterprise value of four times its debt-adjusted cash flow, well below its historical range.

"Despite the excellent share price performance since the start of the year (up 90 per cent), the market still does not fully appreciate both the pace of PPY's production growth and the depth of its inventory, in our view," said Mr. Petrucci in a note. "Add to that, PPY's latest well results are significantly ahead of type curve, and PPY continues to be our favourite pick in the domestic natural gas space."

By Mr. Petrucci's estimates, Painted Pony is growing production per share by 45 per cent this year, and this will rise by 62 per cent in 2015 and 61 per cent in 2016. "These are the highest growth rates across our coverage universe over the period by a significant margin," he noted.

"Due to a significant jump in well performance, PPY has already had to increase its production guidance twice this year, and based upon well performance in the public data, we believe they will need to revise numbers up again," he added.

AltaCorp's Mr. McCrea offered a similar assessment. "With a proven management track record, an expected increase in PPS (production per share) of 61 per cent plus year/year (2014/2015), manageable leverage of 1.1x debt/cash flow for 2015, top-performing Montney wells that look to still be improving, and 2,000-plus locations over 203 Montney sections, there remains few names that compete with PPY on a fundamental level. With PPY looking to update its corporate presentation – reflective of new well economics, combined with further liquefied natural gas development, we believe there are multiple near term catalysts for the stock (not to mention a potential sale of its Saskatchewan assets, and further technological improvements that PPY will utilize on its next batch of wells)," Mr. McCrea said.

The average price target among analysts is $15.75, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Read more: After wild ride, Painted Pony investors see growth

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TD Securities analyst Michael Tupholme upgraded SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. to "buy" from "hold" and raised his price target to $64 (Canadian) from $58 in response to the company broadening its presence in the energy space by acquiring global oil and gas services company Kentz Corp. Ltd.

The Montreal-based engineering and construction company announced the $2.1-billion (Canadian) deal on Monday, using proceeds from the $3.2-billion sale of SNC's stake in electricity transmission company AltaLink.

The deal transforms SNC's oil and gas business, "something that SNC management has suggested (and we agree) was an important and necessary step if the company is to be successful in achieving its objective of becoming a top tier global E&C firm," Mr. Tupholme said.

Mr. Tupholme said the deal is also likely to eventually provide a boost to SNC's still-depressed valuation.

The analyst consensus price target for SNC-Lavalin over the next year is $58.94.

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BMO Nesbitt Burns analyst Joel Jackson upgraded Methanex Corp., the world's biggest supplier of methanol, to "outperform" from "market perform" and hiked his price target to $73 (U.S.) from $68. He believes that risks are receding that prices for the commodity will fall further after recent sharp global declines.

"There could still be further methanol price erosion in the coming weeks due to strong first half 2014 global production/supply and continuation of weaker-than-expected Chinese shipments, though we expect improvements in the second half due to lower prices stimulating demand," Mr. Jackson said in a research note.

The analyst consensus price target for Methanex over the next year is $72.45 (U.S.).

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Desjardins Securities analyst Michael Parkin downgraded Detour Gold Corp. to a "hold" from a "top pick," as a result of the stock more than tripling year to date.

While Desjardins analyst Michael Parkin expects the company to post good operational improvements over the next few quarters, Detour's shares are now trading at a premium to its peer group average.

The stock is now trading at an enterprise value of about 8.9 times forward EBITDA, "which we believe is relatively expensive given Detour has a sole producing asset in a ramp-up phase," Mr. Parkin said.

He raised his price target on Detour's stock to $15.50 (Canadian) from $15. The analyst consensus price target for Detour Gold over the next year is $12.91.

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Investors looking for exposure to Canada's natural resources and infrastructure sectors should take a close look at Aecon Group Inc., says Raymond James analyst Frederic Bastien.

Aecon recently secured a $123-million mining contract from Fort Hills Energy LP, a contract that Mr. Bastien believes will likely result in follow-on work, should Aecon deliver.

"Few stocks offer investors direct exposure to the growth of Canada's infrastructure sector and the development of its vast natural resources," he says. "Aecon ranks atop that list, in our opinion."

Mr. Bastien maintains his "outperform" rating and $21 (Canadian) price target. The analyst consensus price target over the next year is $21.27.

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In other analyst actions:

Raymond James raised its price target on Canadian Pacific Railway to $220 (Canadian) from $192 and maintained an "outperform" rating.

Raymond James raised its price target on Alliance Grain Traders to $26 (Canadian) from $23 and reiterated an "outperform" rating.

Canaccord Genuity cut its price target on Transition Therapeutics to $11 (Canadian) from $13.25 and maintained a "buy" rating.

Paradigm Capital raised its price target on HudBay Minerals to $12.25 (Canadian) from $11 and maintained a "buy" rating.

Raymond James raised its price target on Strad Energy Services to $5.50 (Canadian) from $4.80 and maintained an "outperform" rating.

Needham & Co. raised its price target on Apple to $97 (U.S.) from $86.32 and reiterated a "buy" rating, citing unexpected strength in March iPhone sales.

Goldman Sachs downgraded Dollar General to "buy" from "conviction buy" and maintained a $72 (U.S.) price target.

Baird downgraded Integrys Energy Group to "neutral" from "outperform" but raised its price target to $68 (U.S.) from $64.

Wells Fargo downgraded IntercontinentalExchange to "market perform" from "outperform" and lowered its price target range to $185-$205 from $205-$225.

BMO Nesbitt Burns upgraded Coeur d'Alene Mines to "market perform" from "underperform" and increased its price target of $9.50 (U.S.).

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