Stock Upgraded: Cosco target price raise to 2.00 by JP Morgan

JP Morgan has lifted its target price for Cosco Corp (Singapore) Ltd to 2.00 sgd from 1.53 previously as it sees strong potential for the company to secure more orders for offshore oil exploration platforms. "We believe Cosco is poised for double-digit growth as it is well equipped to emerge as a strong player in the global ship-repair and offshore industry. Cosco's inherent cost advantage and its steady climb up the offshore learning curve should sustain its competitive edge and extend its growth potential," JP Morgan said in a note clients. JP Morgan believes the market has not fully priced in the importance of Cosco's latest 120 mln usd drillship hull contract for the 620 mln usd floating, drilling, production, storage and offloading vessel of Norwegian MPF Corp, which it said "affirmed Cosco's engineering expertise and enhanced its credibility in the rigbuilding and conversion arena." At 9.33 am, Cosco was up 0.04 sgd or 2.31 pct at 1.77 with 2.04 mln shares traded