The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Jan. 9, edition that National Bank Financial analysts Dan Payne and Travis Wood have upgraded Strathcona Resources to "outperform" from "sector perform." The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Payne and Mr. Wood gave their share target a $4 trim to $32. Analysts on average target the shares at $37.33. Mr. Payne and Mr. Wood say in a note: "Following the announced distribution of $10/share and the repricing of the equity, we are upgrading Strathcona. ... We believe Strathcona provides unique exposure through its operating structure as a pure play oil sands operator, where annual growth should average around 8 per cent over our forecast window. This growth, we expect, will be married with continued optimization across the portfolio and continue to showcase the operating capability of the team, as evidenced by the asset-level compression in SORs over the last several years. Based on our forecast, we expect a balanced approach from the company in terms of its uses of FCF over the near term, with funds flow earmarked for a combination of growth, continued debt repayment and funding of the sustainable dividend which currently yields 4.5 per cent."