UPDATE: Stifel Nicolaus Initiates Berry Petroleum at Buy

Stifel Nicolaus is out with its report today on Berry Petroleum

, initiating BRY at Buy. In a note to clients, Stifel Nicolaus writes, "We believe that Berry Petroleum is well positioned for strong margin, low risk, oil weighted, 14% CAGR production growth over the next few years. The impact of this will be production growth rates increasing and margins improving, resulting in above average CFPS growth and strong free cash generation. This will result in meaningful debt reduction and valuation compression, which should move the name higher toward our 12-month target price of $57/share, which reflects a 5.5x 2012E EV/EBITDA multiple and 85% of our risked NAV." Shares of BRY closed Tuesday at $46.15.