CNOOC (NYSE:CEO)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by Zacks in a research report issued on Tuesday, American Banking News.com reports. They currently have a $165.00 price target on the stock. Zacks‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 9.28% from the stock’s previous close.

Zacks’ analyst wrote, “We are maintaining our Neutral recommendation on the Chinese exploration and production company CNOOC Ltd. Although the company reported strong revenues in the third quarter, we are less bullish on the near term due to cascading realizations, a flattish production outlook for 2013 and the absence of catalysts. CNOOC’s growth profile should get a boost over the next 3 to 5 years from numerous development projects offshore China, international growth from recent acquisitions, and intensive exploration and development programs with its partners. Finally, the February acquisition of Canadian energy producer Nexen Inc. brought CNOOC substantial reserves in the Canadian oil sands.”

CEO has been the subject of a number of other recent research reports. Analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded shares of CNOOC from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Separately, analysts at Nomura downgraded shares of CNOOC from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st.

Finally, analysts at Credit Suisse downgraded shares of CNOOC from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. CNOOC has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $204.30.