What: Shares of Ultra Petroleum Corporation (UPL) slid more than 10% by Monday afternoon. Fueling the slide were bearish notes by analysts, which don't like the company's prospects as oil and gas prices remain weak.
So what: The analyst bearishness actually started last Friday when RBC Capital cut its price target on the stock from $18 to $16 per share. That said, the firm did maintain its Sector Perform rating. Further, the price target is more than double the company's current stock price suggesting that it does see plenty of upside once commodity prices improve.
Barclays, however, wasn't quite as generous as it restated its Sell rating on the stock. Further, the firm revised its price target down from $8 per share to $7 per share, which incidentally is where the stock is now trading after today's 10% drop.
Overall, neither firm is near-term bullish on the company as the oil and gas markets remain weak. There's simply no catalyst on the horizon to take prices higher as both markets remain saturated as supplies continue to outstrip demand.
Now what: Until supply and demand begin to balance out Ultra Petroleum's stock will likely remain very volatile. However, for investors with a long-term outlook this could be the best time to buy beaten down oil and gas stocks like Ultra as it does have a pretty solid balance sheet to weather the storm and lots of upside when prices recover.
