Simmons Upgrades U.S. Silica Holdings (SLCA) to Overweight

Simmons, a unit of Piper Jaffray, upgraded U.S. Silica Holdings (NYSE: SLCA) from Neutral to Overweight with a price target of $25.00 (from $18.00).

Analyst John Daniel said the premise for their upgrade is based on the following: 1) our more positive macro outlook regarding the rebalancing of oil supply/demand; 2) the company’s strong balance sheet (net debt/cap = 3%), including its ample liquidity as proforma for the recent equity offering, cash = $470M; 3) the company’s focus on low-cost production, including its exposure to Texas-based sand; 4) rising service intensity which we believe will continue, thus frac sand volumes should outperform both rig count and well completion growth rates; 5) highcost competitor supply continues to leave the market; 6) rapid earnings growth expected as we model 2016 EPS of ($0.93) rising to $1.13 in 2018.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on U.S. Silica Holdings click here. For more ratings news on U.S. Silica Holdings click here.

Shares of U.S. Silica Holdings closed at $22.62 yesterday.

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