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Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

Inside the Market's roundup of some of today's key analyst actions. This file will be updated during the trading day.

Citibank analyst Mohit Bhardwaj upgraded Suncor Energy Inc. to "buy" from "neutral" and trimmed his price target to $48 (Canadian) from $50.

Citibank now has buy ratings on all four major integrated oil companies and has become more bullish on the Canadian energy sector when compared to the U.S.

"Declining crude prices obviously have an impact on the top line for Canadian oil companies. However, a weakening Canadian dollar and tightening crude differentials versus global benchmarks should serve as a buffer against a broader decline in global prices," Mr. Bhardwaj said in a research note. "We believe the market is over-estimating the impact of weaker global crude prices."

His comments echo arguments made by Sprott portfolio manager Eric Nuttall in a recent blog post at Inside the Market. As we reported Tuesday at Inside the Market, corporate insiders have also been much more active in snapping up Canadian energy stocks than those in the U.S.

Mr. Bhardwaj notes that the ability to ship crude by rail will help keep U.S.-Canada crude differentials tighter going forward, with the situation also being aided by the start of the Enbridge's Flanagan South project later this year and the reversal of Enbridge's Line 9B between Ontario and Montreal.

He also believes free cash flows will be rising more swiftly for the four Canadian integrated oil firms Cenovus Energy, Husky Energy, Imperial Oil and Suncor Energy than for U.S. firms. "Between 2015 and 2020, these four companies are expected to grow production by about 7 per cent per annum and generate an average free cash flow yield of about 8.0 per cent. This is in comparison to an expected free cash flow yield of about 5.6 per cent for the global oil majors. We believe the free cash flow inflection for Canadian Oil is six to 18 months away compared with Big Oil where the key inflection is 24-36 months away."

As for the Suncor, Mr. Bhardwaj cited several reasons for the upgrade, in addition to the recent pullback in the share price, including improving operations at its oil sands plants, the start of line 9B and rail movements that will increase the access of North American crude to its Montreal refinery, rising dividend payouts, and its active search for ways to fully realize the value of its midsteam assets. "We believe that using an Income Fund to house its midstream assets could allow Suncor to fully realize value for these assets," he said.

"We believe Suncor's strategy will increase returns and deliver more capital back to shareholders," Mr. Bhardwaj concluded.

The analyst consensus price target for Suncor Energy over the next year is $50.55, according to Thomson Reuters data.

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A pullback in the markets is the perfect time to buy quality stocks like Storm Resources Ltd., says Raymond James Ltd. analyst Kurt Molnar.

"This is simply an outstanding management team, in our view, with strong strategic and operational acumen and a large position in the Montney region we find most interesting after Kakwa and Karr (Alberta)," says Mr. Molnar.

He said that Storm has  a large Montney land base (at Umbach, B.C.) which resides at a relatively shallow depth of only 1,800 meters, suggesting high profitability should the fracking go as planned.

"Given then that we remain very early in optimizing techniques and defining the full scale of the drilling opportunity, the chance to buy this stock at lower levels due to market spasms is a welcome opportunity, indeed," he says.

Mr. Molnar initiated coverage of Storm Resources with an "outperform" rating and $8 (Canadian) price target. The analyst consensus price target is $7.11 (Canadian), according to Thomson Reuters.

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Credit Suisse analyst Robert Moskow provides three reasons for his upgrade of Tyson Foods Inc.

First, a combination of tight chicken supplies and strong demand look likely to keep prices above their normal seasonal patterns. Second, industry beef margins have jumped into the high end of the normalized range. Third, falling sow prices bode well for Hillshire Brands' profit margins in its first quarter under Tyson Foods.

However, Mr. Moskow is still cautious on the stock. "Our concern is that the $500-million synergy target for the Hillshire Brands acquisition will prove overly ambitious because it does not include significant overhead reductions for the Hillshire business and it double-counts the $125 million in restructuring savings that Hillshire had already promised in its forward outlook," he says. "That said, Tyson has an excellent management team and a portfolio that is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the evolving consumer trend toward higher protein/lower carbohydrate diets. In our view, this brings the risk/reward in the stock back into balance."

Mr. Moskow is upgrading Tyson to "neutral" from "underperform" and raising his target price to $42 (U.S.) from $38. The analyst consensus price target is $47.29, according to Thomson Reuters.

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A pessimistic outlook from a competitor of oil sands rental equipment provider Black Diamond Group Ltd. has led to a lowered price target from CIBC World Markets analyst Jon Morrison.

Black Diamond competitor Civeo Corp. recently revealed that it sees lower demand, a slowing oil sands construction environment and delays in projects that were thought to represent near- to- mid-term growth opportunities.

Black Diamond responded with an operational update which stated that its "outlook remains consistent with previously disclosed information" and it "continues to see relative stability across its platform".

Mr. Morrison is not convinced.

"Although we take some solace in Black Diamond's near-term guidance and believe the company will continue to operate its business in a pragmatic and forward thinking way, as we have highlighted in the past, we believe the next six to 12 months will be somewhat of a transition period for the company while it waits on an improved macro environment," he says.

"While we believe BDI continues to have a solid business model, is run by a management team that we hold in the highest regard, and is one of the best stewards of capital in the space, in our view, the macro headwinds warrant caution and its pragmatic to reduce our earnings multiples on the stock while we wait for the environment to stabilize."

Mr. Morrison maintains his "sector underperform" rating and cut his price target to $25.50 (Canadian) from $31.50. Separately, Raymond James downgraded Black Diamond Group to "outperform" from "strong buy" with a price target of $29 (Canadian).The analyst consensus price target is $33.33, according to Thomson Reuters.

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Aveda Transportation and Energy Services Inc. has specific advantages over its competitors, says Jennings Capital analyst Russell Stanley.

The oilfield transportation services provider's scale, modern purpose-built fleet and trained personnel have allowed it to realize premium pricing while minimizing customer downtime, explains Mr. Stanley.

He says Aveda is unique as a pure play on oilfield transportation. "Its competitors lack access to growth capital, either because they are relatively small divisions within diversified public companies, or because they are small private players," he says. "Through organic expansion and acquisitions, the company's branch network now touches approximately 80 per cent of the addressable market in the United States and Canada, giving it scale and revenue diversification by region."

Mr. Stanley is initiating coverage on Aveda with a "buy" recommendation and $7 (Canadian) price target. The analyst consensus price target is $8.29, according to Thomson Reuters.

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In other analyst actions:

National Bank Financial upgraded Agnico-Eagle Mines to "outperform" from "sector perform" and cut its price target to $40 (Canadian) from $42.

At least five Wall Street firms, including JPMorgan Chase and Jefferies Group, have downgraded EBay to the equivalent of hold ratings from buy. The stock rallied 7.5 per cent Tuesday after the company announced it was spinning off its PayPal online-payment services division. Analysts, in general, say the separation is now priced into the stock.

BMO Nesbitt Burns cut its price target on Africa Oil to $9 (Canadian) from $12 and reiterated an "outperform" rating.

RBC Dominion Securities slashed its price target on Westport Innovations to $11 (U.S.) from $17 and maintained a "sector perform" rating, after the company cut its 2014 outlook. Lake Street Capital also downgraded its rating on the stock to "hold" from "buy", with a price target of $20 (U.S.).

Jennings Capital initiated coverage on Contact Exploration with a "buy" rating and 85 cents (Canadian) price target.

Macquarie upgraded Genworth Financial to "outperform" from "neutral" with a price target of $16 (U.S.).

Macquarie upgraded Dynegy to "outperform" from "neutral" with a price target of $40 (U.S.).

BB&T Capital upgraded Hecla Mining to "buy" from "hold" with a price target of $3.50 (U.S.).

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