BofA/Merrill analyst Doug Leggate upgraded Chevron (CVX) to Buy from Neutral, and raised his price target on shares to $140 from $130. The analyst sees the theoretical acquisition price of Anadarko (APC) $65 below his previous price target, but also thinks "the upside from synergies, significant asset sales and de-risking of several aspects of APC's mix such as LNG development will transfer much of the remaining value uplift" to Chevron. Leggate concluded that this resets Chevron's absolute value to a starting point near $140. With the current arbitrage induced weakness of Chevron, he believes it is "once again attractive vs peers."

Notable companies reporting before tomorrow's open, with earnings consensus, include Exxon Mobil (XOM), consensus $2.20... Chevron (CVX), consensus $2.87... AbbVie (ABBV), consensus $2.23... HCA Healthcare (HCA), consensus $5.01... Colgate-Palmolive (CL), consensus 81c... Charter (CHTR), consensus $7.92... AutoNation (AN), consensus $4.27.

Chevron announced that its 50% owned affiliate Tengizchevroil has safely commenced operations at its Wellhead Pressure Management Project, or WPMP, at the Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan. TCO achieved this milestone by converting its first metering station at Tengiz to low pressure and activating the associated Pressure Boost Facility, or PBF. This marks important progress for TCO's overall expansion project at Tengiz. The WPMP is designed to maintain the existing processing plants' full capacity by lowering the flowing pressure at the wellheads and then boosting the pressure to the existing plants.