UPDATE: ABG Sundal Collier Downgrades Golar LNG to Sell, Lowers PT on Too-High Expectations

In a report published Friday, ABG Sundal Collier downgraded its rating on Golar LNG (NASDAQ: GLNG) from Hold to Sell, and lowered its price target from $42.00 to $33.00.

ABG Sundal Collier noted, “With 50 LNG newbuilds scheduled for delivery in H2'13 and 2014 without a similar increase in demand, shipping rates will trend down from the current levels. We believe that the equity market's earnings expectations are too high given our market view; our new 2014e EBITDA/EPS of USD 535m/USD 2.8 are 15%/32% below FactSet consensus. The share should be under pressure while expectations are being revised down. Near term, there is also limited value support at 1.3x NAV given that the value creation will be made further down the road. We thus downgrade Golar LNG to SELL (Hold) with a new target price of USD 33 (USD 42). We cut our 2013e/2014e EPS by 38%/25% mainly due to lower rates, lower utilisation on 2G vessels, changes to depreciation, net financials and drop-downs.”

Golar LNG closed on Thursday at $37.04.