Barclay bullish on Suncor

Paul Chen, an analyst at Barclays, said in a note to clients that Suncor has the clearest growth prospects of the Canadian oil sands producers. He raised his recommendation on the stock to “overweight” from “equal weight” - the first time since 1999 that the analyst has been bullish on the stock.

“We expect both capital and operating costs for oil sands projects to come down, which should help add further upside,” Mr. Cheng said in his report, according to Bloomberg News. “Management's new focus on improving reliability and getting the most from the assets in the ground should help restore its reputation as a good operator.”

He believes that the stock is worth $42 – representing a potential gain of 76 per cent from its current level of $23.87 – if the price of crude oil gets to a long-term average of $80 (U.S.) a barrel.