National Bank Financial on Wednesday downgraded its rating on the shares of Gibson Energy (GEI.TO) to sector perform from outperform and cut its price target to C$24.00 from C$29.00 following weaker than expected fourth-quarter results from the oil infrastructure and marketing company.

"Gibson reported Q4/24 adj. EBITDA of $123 mln (net of SBC), well below our $147 mln estimate and the Street at $149 mln, while increasing its dividend by 5%, matching our forecast ... Gibson posted a rare Marketing loss of -$5 mln (NBF: $10 mln) despite prior Q4/24 guidance of "modest" contributions, citing significantly tighter crude oil differentials and refined crack spreads at Moose Jaw. Recalibrating our expectations for both Marketing and Canadian legacy tankage contributions, our 2025e D/EBITDA ratio moves up to 4.1x, sitting well above the company's 3.0x-3.5x target range, while likely considering the exercise of a ROFR option on USD Partners' sale of the Hardisty Rail Terminal (expected to be completed by mid-April). Compounded by increasing our cost of equity assumption by +50 bps to reflect heightened uncertainty related to the timing of Marketing contributions returning to at least the low end of the $80 to $120 mln long-term annualized guidance range (2025e: ~$50 mln), our target moves down $5 to $24 and we have downgraded our rating to Sector Perform while highlighting <$20 as an attractive entry point," analyst Patrick Kenny wrote.

(MT Newswires covers equity, commodity and economic research from major banks and research firms in North America, Asia and Europe. Research providers may contact us here: https://www.mtnewswires.com/contact-us)

Price: 22.00, Change: -1.58, Percent Change: -6.70