Analyst Spiro Dounis, who covers shipping stocks for the Swiss investment bank’s New York operation, lifted his rating to “buy” from “neutral”.

He also hiked his 12-month price target to $3.50 from $2.75.

In a note to clients, Dounis said that the New York-listed owner’s 17 sales have brought in $30m of cash surplus.

“While this closes the funding gap, we believe an additional six vessel sales will be necessary to fund newbuilding working capital and cash burn for the remainder of 2015,” he said.

But