Raymond James Looks For Bottom In Oil

Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov feels oil is within weeks of bottoming regardless of the OPEC decision.

Based on his viewpoint, he recommends somewhat higher beta names such as Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY) and Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES), while rotating out of the more defensive names like Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM).

Upgrades:

Hess to Outperform from Market Perform, $100 price target
Occidental to Strong Buy from Outperform, $105 price target

Downgrades:

Chevron to Outperform from Strong Buy, $140 price target
Exxon Mobil to Market Perform from Outperform

Oil prices are somewhat lower following the extension of the Iranian nuclear talks until July, with January crude futures down 0.58 to 75.92.