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Continental Resources Hits 52-Week High on Oil Recovery

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Shares of leading oil producer Continental Resources, Inc. hit a 52-week high of $48.72 during Thursday’s trading session. Also, the stock closed the session at $48.72, which reflects a solid return of 166.5% over the past six months. The average trading volume for the last three months was 3,118,160 shares.

What is Driving Continental Resources?

Since the beginning of March, shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock have been witnessing an uptrend. Continental Resources’ exposure to crude price volatility is resulting in its steady rise. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell to a 12-year low mark of $26.21 per barrel in February. Now, this commodity is hovering around $48 per barrel, reflecting a whopping jump of as high of approximately 90%.

Continental Resources is well positioned in Mid-continent resource plays like SCOOP and STACK and enjoys a leading position in the Bakken play. This puts the upstream player in an advantageous position if there is any upside in crude prices. Its asset base has delivered and continues to provide stable returns and cash margins, which would enable the company to execute growth plans in the future.

Also, upward estimate revisions over the last 90 days added to Continental Resources’ attractiveness. Analysts have turned bullish on the company’s growth prospects and are therefore  pushing up estimates. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2016 narrowed to a loss of 77 cents per share from a loss of 96 cents per share over the last 90 days. The persistent rise in oil price is therefore a major boon for Continental Resources.

Oklahoma City-based Continental is an independent exploration and production company. It is the largest leaseholder and one of the largest producers in the domestic oil space, the Bakken play of North Dakota and Montana. The company also has leading positions in Oklahoma, including its SCOOP Woodford and SCOOP Springer discoveries and the STACK and Northwest Cana plays.

 

CONTL RESOURCES Price and Consensus

CONTL RESOURCES Price and Consensus | CONTL RESOURCES Quote

Stocks to Consider

Continental Resources currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the same space are North Atlantic Drilling Limited , Murphy USA Inc. (MUSA - Free Report) and Devon Energy Corporation (DVN - Free Report) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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