Marathon Oil surges after $950M assets sale
Marathon Oil 's stock closed up 12.4 percent Tuesday as the company dramatically reduced its risk exposure following a giant assets sale.

"MRO has now de-risked the story through at least 2017, positioning itself well into a potential turn in the commodity down the road," said Deutsche Bank, which has a "buy" rating on the stock, in a note Tuesday.



Marathon agreed to sell nearly $1 billion in non-core assets on Monday, bringing its total sales through divestitures to about $1.3 billion since last August.

Deutsche added that, while the company's price for its Shenandoah stake is a probably a negative for its partners, "the favorable price tag on the Wyoming side ... is a major positive takeaway in our view."

The oil and natural gas producer, which did not identify the buyers, said it will divest all of its Wyoming upstream and midstream assets for $870 million, excluding closing adjustments.