NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM) - Get Report are climbing, up 0.55% to $86.10 in mid-morning trading Monday, after analysts at Goldman Sachs issued a "buy" rating on the oil giant's stock earlier today, as they bet Brent crude prices will jump to $70 next year.

The firm resumed coverage on Exxon, saying it is the only one of the oil majors that will generate positive free cash flow in 2016.

"After multiple years of production declines, decreasing returns and elevated capital spending, we expect business fundamentals will improve in 2016 for the sector," Goldman added.

Goldman analysts believe Exxon will have the cash to make acquisitions going forward.

The firm noted that they see potential for improving sentiment, as the industry shifts to a new phase in the investment cycle, to product launches from capital expenditures.

In addition, Goldman issued "neutral" ratings on peers ConocoPhillips (COP) - Get Report and Chevron (CVX) - Get Report.

Irving, TX-based ExxonMobil is the largest publicly traded international oil and gas company, that holds an industry-leading inventory of resources. The company is the largest refiner and marketer of petroleum products.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates EXXON MOBIL CORP as a Hold with a ratings score of C+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate EXXON MOBIL CORP (XOM) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed, some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its reasonable valuation levels and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including weak operating cash flow, poor profit margins and disappointing return on equity."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• XOM's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.17 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. Despite the fact that XOM's debt-to-equity ratio is low, the quick ratio, which is currently 0.51, displays a potential problem in covering short-term cash needs.
• XOM, with its decline in revenue, slightly underperformed the industry average of 19.8%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues fell by 22.6%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• The gross profit margin for EXXON MOBIL CORP is rather low; currently it is at 17.91%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Regardless of the weak results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of 8.63% is above that of the industry average.
• Net operating cash flow has decreased to $7,415.00 million or 27.36% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing the cash generation rate to the industry average, the firm's growth is significantly lower.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: XOM Ratings Report