JPM shifts its Ballast
Revisiting its maritime stocks' coverage, JPMorgan downgrades Gaslog Ltd,, Navios Maritime Holdings Inc and Navios Maritime Midstream Partners to "underweight" from "neutral."
Broker raises tanker co DHT Holdings Inc to "overweight" from "neutral."
GLOG, NM, NAP down early Fri by ~5 pct, ~8 pct and ~3 pct, respectively. Meanwhile, DHT shares were up >6 pct
Lead analyst Noah Parquette sees most shipping sectors recovering, notes that dry bulk and LNG shipping have progressed furthest but crude tankers' risk trough could be extended to early 2019 on high scrapping activity and low orders.
Says GLOG and NM ratings cut on valuation, NAP lowered due to aging ships pipeline, cash flow challenges
While near-term outlook for crude tankers "concerning," Parquette believes DHT "has a good combination of strong balance sheet/liquidity and very attractive valuation"
Parquette earns 2 of 5 stars from Thomson Reuters StarMine for recommendation performance on the oil & gas transportation services and marine freight & logistics sectors
YTD, GLOG, NM and NAP have slid by ~25 pct, ~17 pct, and ~7 pct, while DHT has gained ~7.5 pct
Meanwhile, the Baltic Exchange Dry Index has dropped by ~18 pct since the beginning of the year.
Reporting by Stephen Culp