Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co. has launched research coverage of exploration and production (E&P) companies including those with operations in the Bakken oil and Marcellus gas basins.
Senior Research Analyst Hsulin Peng, who joined Baird in late September 2010 and is based in the firm’s Stamford, Conn. office, initiated coverage on ten companies. Initiating with outperform ratings are Abraxas Petroleum Corporation (AXAS), GeoResources, Inc. (GEOI) , Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation (MHR), QEP Resources, Inc. (QEP), and Whiting Petroleum Corporation (WLL),. Initiating with neutral ratings are EOG Resources, Inc. (EOG), EQT Corporation (EQT), Kodiak Oil & Gas Corporation (KOG), Range Resources Corporation (RRC), and Southwestern Energy Company (SWN).
“We continue to expand our Energy expertise and Hsulin’s initiation on E&P companies builds on our existing utility, master limited partnership (MLP) and closed-end fund coverage,” said Robert J. Venable, director of research. “We will significantly expand our energy coverage in 2011 and have plans for additional research analysts in this important sector.”
Peng joined Baird from Luminus Management in New York where she was a research analyst for a Long/Short Power/Utility/Energy Hedge Fund. She joined Baird alongside Senior Research Analyst Ethan Bellamy, who initiated MLP and closed-end fund coverage last November. Peng and Bellamy’s coverage areas complement that of Baird’s veteran utilities analyst David Parker. During 2010, Baird also added eight investment banking professionals, as it continues to expand its energy expertise across its Equity Capital Markets platform.
