On Wednesday Fotis Giannakoulis of Morgan Stanley upgraded the diversified Greek owner’s New York-quoted stock from “equalweight” to “overweight”.

In a note to clients the equity analyst argued that the shares, which were commanding $7.55 a piece this afternoon, are trading at a steep discount to net asset value (NAV).

“Tsakos has the lowest cost structure among peers, while the anticipated launch of an MLP would allow it to re-price its assets with long-term contracts and close its NAV discount,” he said.

“Given