Frontline (Buy, TP: NOK280.00) - Front-row ticket to tanker potential

We believe the tanker fundamentals continue to look attractive, in particular for the VLCCs, with a highly manageable ~4% deliveries expected for 2025–2026. Further, we see potential positive catalysts in sanctions further restricting volumes transported on the dark fleet (possibly triggering scrapping postponed by shadow fleet deployment) and signs of a more aggressive volume strategy from OPEC+. Hence, we reiterate our BUY but have reduced out target price to NOK280 (295).

Up to BUY - excessive share price fall

Another abrupt change

The US Trade Representative on 17 April published revised US port fees with significant changes to the initial proposal based on industry feedback. In its current form, the fees will primarily discourage use of Chinese-controlled maritime trade services to the US, and directly affect the use of Chinese-built vessels in US ports (with several considerable exemptions to avoid harm to US trade). The previous broader fees based on fleet composition and share of Chinese-built vessels has been scrappe...

Mixed upside potential, despite market recovery expectations

Pent-up demand and falling interest rates remain the backbone for newbuild recovery expectations. However, as the recovery has not yet started, property developers screen as the most attractive long-term, but visibility remains mixed. Diversified construction companies are more attractive on near-term P/Es, although many seem to be fully valued on solid share-price performance over the past six months. We maintain a neutral sector view; NCC and Skanska are our top picks.

AF Gruppen (Sell, TP: NOK120.00) - Q1 results are secondary

Given the E4 Bypass Stockholm project cancellation and the filing of fraud charges with the Swedish police by Trafikverket, our focus will be on the company’s position in Sweden, not its Q1 results. AF Gruppen has released limited details on the Trafikverket situation and has denied the charges. Ahead of the results (due at 07:00 CET on 15 May), we are below consensus on Q1e EBIT, despite being at the consensus midpoint. We reiterate our SELL and NOK120 target price.

Frontline Plc: 1 director

A director at Frontline Plc bought 5,000 shares at 171.050NOK and the significance rating of the trade was 57/100. Is that information sufficient for you to make an investment decision? This report gives details of those trades and adds context and analysis to them such that you can judge whether these trading decisions are ones worth following. Included in the report is a detailed share price chart which plots discretionary trades by all the company's directors over the last two years clearly...

‘The times they are a-changin’

The recurring theme at our 18th Energy & Shipping Conference was geopolitical uncertainty and a potential trade war, warranting a wait-and-see approach, particularly on the Trump 2.0 effect. The consensus view pointed to high asset values, with no rush to the yards, aligning with below-NAV valuations across most of our coverage. However, panellists generally saw less downside risk than the 25% average discount to steel for our Tanker, Dry Bulk and Gas coverage. Overall, the day highlighted uncer...

Frontline Minor model adjustments

We have trimmed our 2025–2026e EBITDA by 1% after updating our forecasts for the Q4 report and Q1 guidance, and introduce our 2027 estimates. We remain positive on tanker fundamentals, particularly for VLCCs, with ~4% deliveries in 2025–2026e against ~23% of the fleet aged 20+ years at end-2026e. Along with potential catalysts such as sanctions and stricter enforcement (13% of the crude fleet is under sanctions, 11% for VLCCs), and Frontline’s current P/NAV of 0.88x (historical average ~1.2x), w...

AF Gruppen (Sell, TP: NOK120.00) - The ripple effects could be worse

After the Swedish Transport Administration on 19 February stated it was terminating its contract with AF Gruppen for the ongoing E4 Bypass Stockholm project – pointing to contract violations so serious that it intends to file police charges – we have eliminated the order from our backlog and cut our 2025e EPS by c5%. However, if found guilty of the violations in the legal process, we see even greater downside risk that in a worst-case scenario could include the company being excluded from public...

Higher uncertainty — down to HOLD

Large contract termination and serious allegations

Starting to show its true earnings power

AF Gruppen (Sell, TP: NOK120.00) - Too-high valuation and expectations

AF Gruppen reported Q4 revenue and EBIT above well our forecasts and Bloomberg consensus. Given the gross figures were boosted by minority share of profits and IFRIC15 accounting effects, the adj. EPS was still just 2% above our estimate and 7% above Infront consensus. We have raised our EPS for 2025e by c5% and 2026e by c4%. As we publish our 2027 forecasts, we have rolled forward our valuation, and thus have raised our target price to NOK120 (115). We reiterate our SELL.

Sweden and Betonmast surprises on the upside

Frontline (Buy, TP: NOK305.00) - Sun breaking through the mist

We see strong fundamentals in the tanker space, particularly for VLCCs, driven by limited deliveries and an ageing fleet. Meanwhile, factors such as sanctions and disruption to Iranian oil flows could potentially further benefit compliant shipowners. We believe this leaves Frontline’s modern fleet in a strong position, and if a bull-market were to materialise, we see significant upside potential to our 14–21% dividend yields for 2025–2026e. We reiterate our BUY, but have cut our target price to ...

A playbook on US tariffs

As a response to recent news flow of potential tariffs and countermeasures, we highlight the main implications for the shipping sectors we cover. While the specifics remain uncertain, the below input might assist in gauging potential impacts of the disruptions.