Halliburton Upgraded To Outperform

Oppenheimer has published a research report on Halliburton Company HAL and has upgraded the company to Outperform with a $42 price target. In the report, Oppenheimer writes "We are upgrading HAL from Perform to Outperform and establishing a $42 price target based on 15x our 2011 EPS estimate. HAL has underperformed in the last month, especially relative to SLB, and we believe a reversion to the mean is likely for the stock. We think HAL is shielded from large liabilities related to the Macondo spill and that pressure pumping (and other North America service) margins can continue to expand into the end of 2011, implying further potential upside to our 2011/12 EPS estimates. We think recent price weakness is a good opportunity to establish a position in the stock." Halliburton Company closed Friday at $31.86.