JPMorgan upgraded Chevron on Tuesday, praising the oil major’s integration of Hess Corporation and its implementation of cost-cutting measures. The bank now rates Chevron as overweight and gives its a 12-month price target of $176, suggesting about 6% upside from Friday’s close. Chevron has achieved its initial target of $1 billion in synergies from the Hess acquisition, JPMorgan analyst Arun Jayaram told clients. It has also boosted its cost-reduction target to $3 billion to $4 billion in annual run-rate savings by 2026, Jayaram said. Key catalysts for Chevron are its Yellowtail project in Guyana and Tengizchevroil project in Kazakhstan, Jayaram said. Its Guyana assets are world class and the Kazakhstan project is expected to generate $6 billion of free cash flow in 2026 and more than $5 billion in 2027, the analyst said. Chevron is also in exclusive negotiations with a customer to help build a natural gas powered generation facility to support a data center, the analyst said. CVX 1Y mountain Chevron shares over the past year.
