Pioneer Natural price target raised to $250 from $240 at BofA

BofA raised the firm’s price target on Pioneer Natural to $250 from $240 and keeps an Underperform rating on the shares. Spot prices above $90 per barrel “resurrects conflicting challenges” for the U.S. oil names, as in the near-term the sector benefits from higher free cash flow, but the impact on sector valuations is “modest, tempered by a backwardated price structure where the long-dated price is the only barometer of what the market will discount,” the analyst tells investors in U.S. oil and gas sector note. The challenge for investors is “the dichotomy between implied valuations capped by a declining forward curve and the risk that sustained intervention by OPEC+ continues to support near dated oil prices,” says the firm, whose strategy remains to be selective in the group.