Tuesday’s analyst upgrades and downgrades

Tuesday’s analyst upgrades and downgrades DAVID LEEDER PUBLISHED 58 MINUTES AGO UPDATED 45 MINUTES AGO COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. Inside the Market’s roundup of some of today’s key analyst actions “Expressing faith in North American oil production growth,” National Bank Financial analyst Patrick Kenny upgraded Enbridge Inc. (ENB-T +1.21% increase ) to “outperform” from “sector perform” after coming off research restriction following its $3.0-billion equity financing, which will partially fund the concurrent US$2.55-billion acquisition of the crude oil business of Tallgrass Energy LP and US$0.6-billion tuck-in of Salt Creek Midstream’s crude oil gathering business. “The acquisitions further strengthen ENB’s industry-leading North American crude oil super-system, adding highly contracted assets including the 460 mbpd [thousand barrels per day] Pony Express Pipeline (PXP), the 240 mbpd Powder River Gateway, connecting the Bakken, Powder River and Denver-Julesburg basins into Cushing, while extending its Permian wellhead-to-water offering. “Longer term, we also highlight the optionality for ENB to twin its 310 mbpd Express WCSB egress pipeline system and integrate with an expanded PXP into Cushing and the Gulf Coast via Seaway. Meanwhile, the recent Salt Creek tuck-in adds 420 mbpd of acreage-dedicated Permian gathering capacity with connectivity into ENB’s Gray Oak pipeline and 1.6 mmbpd Ingleside terminal, which currently has 500 mbpd of whitespace.” In a client note released before the bell, Mr. Kenny said Enbridge’s liquids franchise “remains well positioned to benefit from durable North American crude supply growth, with the company’s transcontinental super-systems currently delivering ~6 mmbpd of crude oil and liquids across the U.S. and Canada.” “Through 2035, the company expects gross production to increase by more than 1.0 mmbpd [millions of barrels per day] in the WCSB, 0.9 mmbpd in the Permian Basin and 0.2 mmbpd across the Bakken and Rockies,” he added. “Meanwhile, the Bakken and Rockies stand to benefit from their long-life supply base combined with growing strategic importance in the Denver-Julesburg Basin (DJB) and Powder River Basin (PRB) equipped with advantaged topography and a supportive regulatory backdrop, while Permian growth is supported by improving drilling technologies and ENB’s vertically integrated connection to…