energy giant shell could be a big winner going forward according to goldman sachs analyst michele della vigna upgraded the stock to buy from neutral and hiked his price target on the companys uslisted shares to 85 from 74 that forecast implies upside of 40 from fridays close in our view shell has the highest quality combination of assets in the sector with a leading global lng and marketing businesses and strong chemical presence della vigna wrote monday we see material upside to operational performance in both deepwater and liquified natural gas assets while the companys strong balance sheet might allow it to veer towards the upper end of the sectors new 3040 cash distribution range he added goldman sachs said that ongoing capital discipline has helped reposition shells upstream oil portfolio higher on the profitability cost curve despite the firms lower longterm oil price assumptions della vigna added that shell has its lowest oil breakeven price in recent history also falling below current spot and average prices among other big oil companies in the european union we expect this positive trend to continue driven by material upside to operational performance in both deepwater and lng asset uptime he wrote shells expected cash returns to shareholders in 2023 falls below that of its competitors however the analyst thinks that its strong balance sheet position allows it to veer toward the upper end of the sectors new 3040 cash distribution range up from 2030 previously according to goldman —cnbcs michael bloom contributed to this report