Evercore ISI double upgrades Occidental Petroleum to outperform, raises target to $65

According to CNBC, Evercore ISI double upgraded Occidental Petroleum to outperform from underperform on Wednesday and raised its price target 12% to $65 from $58, implying 26% upside from Tuesday’s close, citing a materially de-levered balance sheet and improved capital efficiency that it said reshape the company’s free-cash-flow profile and path back to shareholder returns. Analyst Stephen Richardson said Occidental shares are down nearly 14% over the past three months, while West Texas Intermediate futures have fallen roughly 21% over the same period. Richardson added that Occidental, led by CEO Richard Jackson, has lowered well costs and adopted a shallower base decline to reduce maintenance capital, which he said supports a restart of buybacks in 2028. CNBC also reported that Berkshire Hathaway owns 26.6% of Occidental common stock and a notional $8.3 billion in preferred stock, and that the earliest Occidental can redeem Berkshire’s preferred stock is August 2029.