Evercore ISI Recommends Buying Halliburton (HAL), Baker Hughes (BHI) on Today's Weakness

Evercore ISI analyst James West weighed in on Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) and Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) related to headlines from Bloomberg the companies faces antitrust hurdles related to the deal and the subsequent sell-off.

West said they spoke with Halliburton and "they reaffirmed there has been no change in the status of the transaction on their end since Monday's 2Q15 earnings call."

The analyst notes

Both Halliburton and Baker Hughes remain fully committed to the merger, and we view the article as highly speculative given that:

1) The DOJ entered into a timing agreement with HAL to close the transaction before year end - in line with both companies' goal to complete the transaction by late 2015,

2) HAL has yet to reply to the DOJ's second request, and

3) HAL and BHI have repeatedly indicated a willingness to divest as many assets as necessary.

"We believe today's volatility present a nice buying opportunity with the spread widening to 14%," the analyst said.

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