Ahead of the Bell: Analyst upgrades oil stocks

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices are set to rise and boost shares of oil companies, said an analyst on Monday as he urged investors to buy shares of two oil exploration and production companies.

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst John Gerdes upgraded both Whiting Petroleum Corp. and Continental Resources Inc. to "Buy" from "Neutral," citing his recently raised oil price forecast. For 2010, he boosted his oil price forecast by $7.50 to $77.50 per barrel. For the long-term, he increased estimates by $5 to $85 per barrel.

Gerdes noted that Whiting shares have underperformed its exploration and production sector peers by about 5 percentage points, whereas Continental shares have underperformed the sector by more than 5 points. With higher oil prices on the horizon, these stocks are positioned to increase, he added.

Gerdes raised his price target for Whiting to $74 per share, up from a previous estimate of $60 per share. For Continental, Gerdes boosted his price target to $53 per share, up from $45 per share.

Shares of Whiting closed at $61.80 on Friday. Shares of Continental closed at $42.92.