Analyst Boosts Rating On Hercules Offshore

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil and gas services provider Hercules Offshore Inc. has a prime recovery opportunity in the Gulf Coast jackup rig market, an analyst said Friday while boosting his rating.

Raymond James analyst J. Marshall Adkins upgraded Hercules to "Outperform" from "Underperform" with a $6 price target, implying he expects the stock to jump 31 percent from Thursday's $4.58 close.

"We are essentially upgrading Hercules on the premise that the outlook cannot get much worse," Adkins said in a note to clients. "If anything, we believe that there may be upside to 2010 estimates given management's cost-cutting efforts." ...