RDS our top pick; buy Total, BP and ENI
* RDS (Buy, TP EUR31.0)
In the midst of a radically changing industry, RDS stands firm. As project delivery has
moved to forefront of sector, RDS’s growth story, with the lowest project delivery risk
around, is increasingly valuable, despite production growth appearing to lag peers and cash
flow delivery rather back-end loaded. A combination of one the sector’s strongest balance
sheets, a defensive dividend coupon and a dividend that is actually fully supported add
strength to the company as well as creating plenty of room for substantial shareholder
distributions. RDS stands out as our top pick in the sector, hence we initiate with a Buy
rating and a EUR31.0 target price, implying a 2014E target P/E of 10.3x, a 1% discount to
our sector target multiple.
* Total (Buy, TP EUR48.5)
We think the market is still underestimating Total’s cash flow growth potential, ability to
bridge the short-term gap in the cash cycle and financial robustness. The company’s capital
market day has added traction to our cash flow thesis with Total now targeting an organic
FCF of USD15-17bn for 2017, which equates to a 12-13% FCF yield. While we maintain
our more conservative assumptions and assume an FCF yield of 11%, Total still offers the
most attractive FCF growth story in our sector universe. Hence we re-iterate our positive
stance on the stock. Our target price implies a target 2014E P/E of 9.5x, a 16% discount to
our sector target multiple.
* BP (Buy, TP GBP545p)
While we think the market has not fully reflected BP's ability to boost cash flows in the
medium term, there remains significant uncertainty about the final Macondo bill. We
believe BP’s upstream portfolio and improved financial flexibility should enable it to
weather this uncertainty and deliver sector-leading dividend growth, hence we initiate
with a Buy and a GBP545p target price, implying a target 2014E P/E of 10.2x, a 10%
discount to our sector multiple.
* ENI (Buy, TP EUR19.5)
We think ENI combines deliverable growth and sector-average project delivery risk in its
upstream portfolio, supporting rising unit cash flow and returns for shareholders in the
coming years. As we think the shares offer a better risk/return profile than average for the
sector, we initiate with a Buy rating and EUR19.5 target price, implying a target 2014E P/E
of 14.6x, an 29% premium to our sector target multiple.