Shipping Stocks Earn More Upgrades
Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded DryShips and Nordic American Tanker on Monday. Before the bell this morning, analyst Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Greek bulk shipper DryShips to Buy from Hold, giving the stock an price target.
The firm noted valuation discrepancies and explained that the primary near-term upside catalyst "will be securing employment and financing for the fifth and sixth drilling rigs." DryShips shares sank by -7.2% last week, but are recouping the bulk of the decline in pre-market trading.
As a whole, the Dry Bulk Shipping Stocks Index has managed to stay ahead of the S&P 500 by 1.5% over the last month, despite having eleven of fourteen components in the red. Torm Steamship, Navios Maritime Holdings, and Euroseas were the only stocks to stay positive for the period.
Elsewhere in the shipping sector, Nordic American Tanker will help the broader Shipping Stocks Index after Cantor upgraded the stock to Hold from Sell.
Today's optimism for the shipping segment follows a slew of upgrades from Deutsche Bank earlier this month. DryShips, Diana Shipping, Genco Shipping, and Euroseas all received Buy ratings from the analyst, which cited Chinese commodity demand as a catalyst for the sector. Of course, various Chinese equity sectors got crushed during last week's sell off, so it will be interesting to see if the thesis holds.
As of this writing, the Shipping Stocks Index is one of the top-70 performing tickerspy Indexes over the last month.
Source: Indie Research
