02:35 AM EDT, 05/13/2025 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

Our 12-month target price of USD36, up USD2, reflects a 5.9x multiple of enterprise value to projected 2026 EBITDA, about in line with CNQ's historical forward average. We lift our 2025 EPS estimate by CAD0.10 to CAD3.87, but cut 2026's by CAD0.01 to CAD4.84. In Q1, the company demonstrated strong cost control with upstream opex falling 12% to CAD21.88/b and Thermal In Situ opex dropping 20% to CAD11.23/b. We believe CNQ's cost advantage over peers continues to widen, with oil sands opex CAD7.00/b-10.00/b lower than competitors in 2024. The company maintained a balanced capital allocation strategy, returning CAD1.7B to shareholders through dividends (now yielding 5.6%) and buybacks, while reducing debt by CAD1.4B, and trimmed its 2025 upstream capex guidance by CAD100M to CAD6.05B. Shares now offer a yield of 5.5%, but we estimate a 2026 payout ratio of 50%, which we think is defendable.