-- RBC Capital Markets made "small changes" to its financial forecasts for BP (BP.L) after its first-quarter earnings, while maintaining its sector perform rating and price target of 7 pounds sterling.
"New CEO Meg O'Neill kicked off her tenure with a strong set of results, helped in large part by the current price environment," analysts said Tuesday. "In this respect, BP's Oil trading business was the standout in the quarter (as expected, but a bit more than expected) and actually made up for upstream results that were weaker than consensus expectations ([oil production and operations] 6% miss, [gas and low carbon] 10% miss)."
As such, the research firm lowered its OPO and GLC earnings assumptions for 2026, while raising its estimate for downstream earnings. EPS projections were cut by 2.6% for 2026, 2.4% for 2027, and 2.5% for 2028.
Meanwhile, analysts said the oil and gas company's plan to reduce its hybrid stack is a "positive step forward" in de-leveraging the business, as they expect BP to exceed its "conservative" net debt target by 2026-end.