What Do Analysts Recommend for NFX ahead of 1Q16 Earnings?

What to Expect from Newfield Exploration’s 1Q16 Earnings

(Continued from Prior Part)

Analysts’ recommendations for Newfield Exploration

In the weeks leading up to Newfield Exploration’s (NFX) 1Q16 earnings release, Wall Street analysts provided target prices for the next 12 months.

Consensus rating for Newfield Exploration

Approximately 82% of analysts rate NFX a “buy,” and ~18% rate it a “hold.” The average broker target price of $38.40 for NFX implies a return of around 2.6% in the next 12 months. Its upstream peers Diamondback Energy (FANG), Cimarex Energy (XEC), and PDC Energy (PDCE) have average broker target prices of $86.80, $107.21, and $69.11, respectively. These figures imply returns of ~0.3%, -3.6%, and ~6.6%, respectively, in the next 12 months.

The high, low, and median analyst target prices for NFX are $56, $28, and $38, respectively.

Newfield Exploration is a component of the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE). XLE invests ~0.6% of its portfolio in the company.

Analysts’ target prices for NFX

RBC Capital Markets gave NFX one of the most optimistic target prices of $42, which implies a return of around 12.2% in the next 12 months.

UBS (OUBS) and Evercore ISI gave NFX lower target prices of $38 and $36, respectively, implying returns of around ~1.5% and -3.8% in the next 12 months. Société Général also gave NFX a lower price target of $35, implying a fall of 6.5% in the next 12 months.

One of the lowest target prices came from Barclays (BCS), which gave Newfield Exploration a target price of $28. This implies a fall of 25% over the next year.

Read Market Realist’s series Can the Anadarko Basin Turn Newfield Exploration Around in 2016? for a detailed overview of the company.

Browse this series on Market Realist:

• Part 1 - What to Expect from Newfield Exploration’s 1Q16 Earnings

• Part 2 - Newfield Exploration’s Production Guidance for 2016

• Part 3 - How Has Newfield Exploration’s Stock Fared over the Last Year?