Stocks of Permian peers of Pioneer Natural Resources rally in wake of WSJ report that buyout by Exxon Mobil is close

Shares of Permian peers of Pioneer Natural Resources Co.
PXD,
-0.17%
were getting a boost in premarket trading Friday, in the wake of The Wall Street Journal’s report that Exxon Mobil Corp.
XOM,
-2.25%
was near a deal to buy shale-drilling company for a premium of about 20%. Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s stock
OXY,
-1.03%
rose 0.8% ahead of the open, Devon Energy Corp. shares
DVN,
-1.15%
gained 0.9% and Diamondback Energy Inc.’s stock
FANG,
-0.27%
climbed 1.4%. TD Cowen analyst David Deckelbaum said the idea of a potential Exxon-Pioneer merger is “commonly brought up by investors,” and was subject of media speculation most recently in April. “We expect the repeated nature of the reports to be treated with legitimacy and anticipate scarcity value emerging for large scale Permian peers such as [Diamondback], [Occidental], and [Devon],” Deckelbaum wrote in a note to clients. Pioneer’s stock shot up 10.4% ahead of the open and Exxon shares shed 1.6%, while futures
ES00,
+0.11%
for the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.13%
edged up 0.2%.