ING Barings Raises Rating On 4 Shipping Companies

ING Barings raised its ratings on four shipping companies to strong buy from buy. Analyst Stephen Gengaro raised his ratings on shares of Frontline Ltd. to a strong buy from buy to reflect the company's "tremendous" leverage to rising time-charter equivalent (TCE) rates for its very large crude carriers (VLCC) tankers. The rating on shares of international tanker owner OMI Corp. was raised to strong buy from buy, with revised estimates reflecting upward revisions to his rate assumptions for company's crude tanker and product tanker fleets. The rating on shares of Overseas Shipping Group was raised to strong buy from buy with a $30 price target based on 7.5 times the midpoint of his peak earnings estimate and peak pretax earnings per share estimate. The reasoning for the upgrade centers on the company's high-quality modern VLCC and Aframax fleet and the leverage it gives to outstanding industry fundamentals he expects to play out over next two to three years. The rating was raised on Teekay Shipping to strong buy from buy, because it is an extremely efficiently-run tanker company as a result of its excellent management team and large, homogenous fleet.