Occidental Petroleum "outperform," target price raised

25.07.07 - Credit Suisse

NEW YORK, July 25 (newratings.com) - Analysts at Credit Suisse maintain their "outperform" rating on Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY), while reducing their estimates for the company. The target price has been raised from $63 to $64.

In a research note published this morning, the analysts mention that the company has posted its 2Q EPS ahead of the estimates and the consensus on account of a lower-than-expected DD&A rate and income tax rate. Occidental Petroleum?s production declined sequentially in the quarter partly due to anticipated plant maintenance in Libya and downtime at West Texas? Permian basin on account of unfavourable weather conditions, the analysts say. The EPS estimate for 2007 has been reduced from $4.63 to $4.42.