Occidental Petroleum shares rose 3.9% in Wednesday's trading as crude oil prices surged and Evercore ISI double-upgraded the stock to Outperform from Underperform, raising its price target to $65 from $58. Analyst Stephen Richardson cited a materially de-levered balance sheet and a structural step-up in capital efficiency that together reshape the free cash flow profile and the path back to shareholder returns. The upgrade is about the rate of change and a closing valuation discount, with the market under-crediting the durability of efficiency gains and the simplification of a capital structure that has long capped common-equity leverage to oil. Lower well costs and a strategically shallower base decline reduce maintenance capital over time, which flattens and lifts free cash flow and supports a restart of buybacks around the back half of 2028.
Occidental Petroleum CorporationEvercore ISI double-upgrade to Outperform, citing de-levered balance sheet, improved capital efficiency, and path to shareholder returns.