Key takeaways from MarkWest Energy’s 4Q14 earnings (Part 6 of 6)
(Continued from Part 5)
Short-term targets
In this part of the series, we will be taking a look at the short-term targets that Wall Street analysts have for MarkWest Energy Partners (MWE).
MWE is one of the top five holdings of the Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP). The company makes up about 7.7% of the ETF.
Consensus ratings
64.7% of analysts rated MWE as “hold,” while the remaining 35.3% rated the company as “buy.” The consensus 12-month target price was $72.43, which is a premium to MWE’s ~$64 stock price as of March 6, 2015.
Individual ratings
US Capital Advisors gave the most optimistic target price for MWE stock: $84. This implies expected returns of about 31% over the next 12 months. The financial services firm recommended MWE as a “buy.”
Barclays (BCS) and Credit Suisse also provided upbeat target prices for MWE stock. BCS gave a target price of $75, rating MarkWest as “equalweight.” Credit Suisse offered a target price of $79, rating MWE as “outperform.” These numbers imply returns of 23% and 17%, respectively, over the next 12 months.
JPMorgan (JPM), Wunderlich Securities, and RBC Capital Markets all provided a target price of $70, suggesting returns of about 9% over the next 12 months. JPM, Wunderlich, and RBC gave MWE ratings of “neutral,” “hold,” and “sector perform,” respectively.
Recommending MWE as “hold,” Jefferies provided the most pessimistic target price of $65, which implies returns of about 1.6% over the next 12 months.
UBS (OUBS) gave a lower target price of $68 and rated MWE as “neutral,” implying returns of 6% over the next 12 months.
To find out more about energy companies and their 4Q14 results, read Market Realist’s Energy and Power page.
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