Frontline price target lowered to $20 from $22 at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI lowered the firm’s price target on Frontline (FRO) to $20 from $22 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. Despite the stocks in the firm’s tanker coverage trading at valuation discounts “only before seen in periods of liquidity/going concern risks” at a time when balance sheets across the sector have “never been stronger,” headwinds to widespread interest in the group remain elevated, the analyst tells investors in a tanker sector note. Escalating fears regarding a potential global economic recession amid punitive trade policies is leading to meaningful resets lower of the oil demand picture, adds the analyst, who notes that recessionary periods historically have been “unfavorable to tanker rates” and equities.