S&P Picks and Pans: HP, BofA, Yahoo, Ford, Corning, PetroChina

(page 2 of 2)

com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?symbol=PTR'>PTR; $132.93

The PRC government has raised prices of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, by about 18%, 20%, and 26%, respectively. We expect short-term ADS price appreciation, but also note that the move lags the rise in oil prices. We believe the government's action reduces PTR's refining losses, and more importantly signals its willingness to move towards market pricing for petroleum products. We lift our earnings per ADS forecast for '08 and '09 to $13.98 and $12.04, or by 15%, and 9%, respectively. We maintain our 12-month target price unchanged of $167. /L. Tan

S&P RAISES RECOMMENDATION ON SHARES OF TRANSOCEAN INC TO STRONG BUY FROM BUY

RIG; $140.01

For its semisubmersible rig GSF Development Driller II, RIG obtains a five-year, $1.06 billion contract in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico from BP plc (BP). Averaging out to approximately $580,000 a day, this is $80,000 above our prior estimate for this rig's prospects upon completion of its current contract, and underscores strong long-term interest in deepwater development. Based on the news, we raise our '08 EPS estimate by $0.03 to $15.09, '09's by $0.12 to $17.16, and on elevated peer multiples, blended with our NAV model, we raise our 12-month target price by $6 to $188. /S. Glickman

S&P MAINTAINS HOLD RECOMMENDATION ON SHARES OF HUNTINGTON BANCSHARES

HBAN; $5.14

HBAN expects net charge-offs for '08 to be 0.60%-0.65% of average total loans and leases; our expectation was 0.40%, in line with Q1. HBAN also announces issuance of $569 million in convertible preferred to bolster capital levels, and downplays market speculation that a significant deterioration of credit quality is imminent. We are raising our loan-loss provision estimates for '08 and '09 and cutting our EPS estimates to $0.80 for '08 and $0.98 for '09, from $1.45 and $1.35. We are reducing our 12-month target price by $2 to $8, on a peer-equivalent 8.0X our '09 EPS estimate. /E. Oja