EXE
The bull case isn’t dead
Raymond James just waved the green flag again on Expand Energy, keeping a Strong Buy rating and a $145 price target on the natural gas producer. That’s a pretty upbeat call when the stock is sitting around $95.82 and hovering near its 52-week low of $91.02.
But the winter weather didn’t help
The firm trimmed its first-quarter 2026 estimates after weaker Northeast Appalachia production ran into a double whammy: unplanned downtime from weather and higher line pressure. Translation: the wells weren’t exactly living their best life.
The Street is getting a little twitchy
Raymond James isn’t the only one with an opinion here. KeyBanc downgraded Expand Energy to Sector Weight, while UBS cut its price target to $133 even as it kept a Buy rating. The common thread? Management turnover is starting to spook people, and nobody loves uncertainty when estimates are already wobbling.
Still, not everyone is bailing
Mizuho kept an Outperform rating and a $145 target, though it’s bracing for a first-quarter miss on EBITDAX and cash flow per share. So the vibe is less “fire drill,” more “hold onto your seat while the gas market does gas-market things.”
Big picture: analysts still see upside, but Expand Energy has to get through weather noise, production hiccups, and leadership questions before the market stops acting like it’s one bad quarter away from a haircut.