3 Wall Street Firms Pick Top E&P Stocks

Several major Wall Street firms have weighed in on exploration and production (E&P) stocks this week. The majority of E&P stocks are now priced at only a fraction of where they were just a year ago.

For some companies, current share prices offer a great investment opportunity for a long-term recovery. For other companies, liquidity issues and other concerns could mean that the worst is yet to come.

Here’s a summary of what these three firms had to say about which E&P names investors should be buying now.

Northland Capital Markets
Northland is expecting increased volatility in the E&P space surrounding Friday’s OPEC meeting. Northland has an Outperform rating on the following names:

Bellatrix Exploration Ltd (NASDAQ: BXE)
Bonanza Creek Energy Inc (NASDAQ: BCEI)
Callon Petroleum Co (NASDAQ: CPE)
Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc (NASDAQ: CRZO)
Diamondback Energy Inc (NASDAQ: FANG)
Earthstone Energy Inc (NASDAQ: ESTE)
EP Energy Corp (NASDAQ: EPE)
Evolution Petroleum Corp (NASDAQ: EPM)
Gulfport Energy Corp (NASDAQ: GPOR)
Matador Resources Co (NASDAQ: MTDR)
Midstates Petroleum Company Inc (NASDAQ: MPO)
Osage Exploration and Development Inc (NASDAQ: OEDV)
Parsley Energy Inc (NASDAQ: PE)
Rex Energy Corp (NASDAQ: REXX)
Ring Energy Inc (NASDAQ: REI)
RSP Permian Inc (NASDAQ: RSPP)
Sanchez Energy Corp (NASDAQ: SN)
Synergy Resources Corp (NASDAQ: SYRG)
Viper Energy Partners LP (NASDAQ: VNOM)

Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse remains a buyer of E&Ps with high-quality assets and strong balance sheets. Credit Suisse has Outperform ratings on the following stocks:

Antero Resources Copr (NASDAQ: AR)
PDC Energy (NASDAQ: PDCE)
Penn Virginia Corp (NASDAQ: PVA)
Range Resources (NASDAQ: RRC)
Bonanza Creek Energy
Diamondback Energy
Gulfport Energy
Sanchez Energy

BMO Capital Markets
BMO sees leverage, rather than liquidity, as the key issue for many E&Ps moving forward. BMO has Outperform ratings on the following E&P stocks:

Rice Energy Inc (NYSE: RICE)
Memorial Resource Development Corp (NASDAQ: MRD)
SM Energy Co (NYSE: SM)
Matador Resources Co (NYSE: MTDR)
Bonanza Creek Energy
PDC Energy
Carrizo Oil & Gas