12:55 AM EDT, 03/11/2024 (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 remains US$13, a 5.1x multiple of enterprise value to projected '25 EBITDA, modestly below U.S. supermajor oils. We think a discount is reasonable due to concerns that political interference may result in more capital allocated towards low-return projects. We raise our '24 earnings per ADS estimate by BRL2.02 to BRL18.84 and start '25's at BRL15.10. Q4 earnings per ADS of BRL4.79, vs. BRL 6.65, was BRL0.19 below consensus. Q4 production averaged 2.94 mmboe/d, 1.1% above consensus. Although PBR's bylaws require dividend payments to be at least 45% of free cash flow (down from 60% in 1H '23), this rule only applies if total debt is below US$65B. That metric now stands at US$62.5B, close to the hurdle number, and is up US$9.4B since year-end '22. As a result, PBR's yield (which we estimate at 19.2%) is arguably at risk in our view if debt levels rise even a modest amount (an extra 4%).