Inside the Market’s roundup of some of today’s key analyst actions
National Bank Financial analyst Cameron Doerksen thinks shares of Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B-T) are “due for a pause after a tremendous run.”
Accordingly, following Thursday’s release of its largely in-line quarterly results and guidance for the next fiscal year, he lowered his recommendation for the Canadian luxury jet manufacturer to “sector perform” from “outperform” previously.
“With a solid backlog, positive margin trends and decreasing leverage, we remain confident that financial results will continue to improve over the next several years,” said Mr. Doerksen. “Furthermore, if Bombardier can achieve its 2025 targets ($1.5-billion in EBITDA and leverage below 3.0 times), we see a path to a C$90.00+ share price over the longer term. However, we feel that the stock is due for a pause in its upward momentum and would prefer to buy the stock on a pullback.”
“Bombardier shares have been exceptionally strong since mid-2022 and are up almost 30 per cent so far in 2023 (versus TSX up 7 per cent). This share price performance is warranted in our view as the company handily exceeded management guidance across all metrics, but based on our updated forecast and valuation, upside to our new target is more modest.”
Mr. Doerksen warned industry sentiment could become “less bullish” in 2023, pointing to “softening” businness jet market sentiment and expecting order activity to slow after an “exceptional” 2022.
“Sentiment around the business jet market was buoyed by strong business jet flying activity through most of 2022 and strong new jet order activity,” he said. “However, industry metrics are showing some softening trends. For instance, industry pre-owned jet inventory for sale, while still healthy, has been ticking higher, closing 2022 at 4.8 per cent of the global fleet versus 3.6 per cent at the end of 2021. Business jet utilization globally, while still up from pre-pandemic levels, was down 1 per cent versus 2022 in the latest week and flat y/y over the past month according to WINGX. "
“Bombardier management indicates that its new jet order activity to start 2023 has been stable and the expectation is for a book-to-bill around 1.0x times for 2023 (versus 1.4 times for Bombardier in 2022). We believe Bombardier shares were also boosted in 2022 from the strong order activity and backlog build, but in our view, backlog is unlikely to grow this year (noting that the company has strong visibility on jet deliveries in 2023 and well into 2024).”
Expecting Bombardier to provide longer-term targets with its investor update on March 213, he raised his target for its shares to $72 from $67. The average on the Street is $70, according to Refinitiv data,
Conversely, TD Securities analyst Tim James upgraded Bombardier to “buy” from “speculative buy” with a $83 target, up from $79.
Elsewhere, others making changes include:
* ATB Capital Markets’ Chris Murray to $85 from $80 with an “outperform” rating.
““The Company reported another solid quarter as strong end-market demand and operational improvements continue to drive operating leverage and FCF generation,” said Mr. Murray. “The Company released guidance calling for healthy revenue growth and margin expansion in 2023, reaffirming management’s confidence in its outlook despite macro pressures and a normalizing demand environment. The Company announced that it will be holding a virtual investor day on March 23, 2023, expected to focus on management’s growth plans beyond 2025 and strategy around capital allocation. While shares have performed well in recent months, we continue to view valuations as attractive, with an improving credit profile and upward revisions of 2025 targets offering further potential upside.”
* Desjardins Securities’ Benoit Poirier to $97 from $82 with a “buy” rating.
“Despite BBD’s conservative 2023 guidance, management’s overall tone and messaging were very bullish, in our view (first EPS-positive year since 2018). BBD continues to pay down debt (we expect further debt repayment in 2023) and improve its credit rating, which could open the company up to a larger pool of investors. We remain bullish on the short- and long-term prospects for BBD and recommend investors revisit the story,” said Mr. Poirier
* Scotia Capital’s Konark Gupta to $80 from $75 with a “sector outperform” rating.
“We are not overly surprised by a negative market reaction [Thursday] .. Q4 was a non-event given BBD had pre-announced results while 2023 FCF guidance, at the low end, was initiated at $200-million below $450-million consensus (FactSet),” he said. “Profit-taking could also be a factor in [Thursday’s] weakness given the stock’s recent outperformance. However, we are positively surprised by the conservative guidance and also believe that management could take the opportunity to raise 2025 targets at the upcoming investor day on March 23. We think too much focus on FCF conceals BBD’s solid margin expansion and deleveraging efforts. We remain bullish with our Sector Outperform rating while raising our target yet again.”
* RBC’s Walter Spracklin to $89 from $86 with an “outperform” rating.
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Following Brookfield Corp.’s (BN-N, BN-T) “solid” fourth-quarter 2022 results, RBC Dominion Securities analyst Geoffrey Kwan thinks its apparent willingness to “pursue a giant acquisition could be interesting.”
“BN disclosed it was ‘very close’ to acquiring a US$30-billion business 1.5 years ago that wasn’t an asset manager (like Oaktree), but an operating company,” he said. “BN indicated a willingness to consider huge acquisitions of this size and that it could involve participation from one of their investment funds and/or 3rd party co-invest. Our thoughts on BN being open to doing a substantially larger acquisition than historical: (1) depending on the structure, such a transaction might positively impact BAM’s FRE (management fees, possibly carried interest); and (2) for a deal that size and the significant capital required by BN (BN suggested its portion might be US$10-billion), we think the capital gain potential would need to be significant and lower risk.”
Shares of the company were flat on Thursday after it confirmed plans to carry on buying back shares and is eyeing potential acquisitions to expand its business as it battles to boost a share price that it believes lags the company’s true value by a wide margin.
Mr. Kwan called the quartely results “good” despite operating funds from operations per share falling short of his expecations (68 US cents versus 71 US cents, represening a decline of 7 per cent year-over-year. Its free-related earnings of 34 US cents beat his estimate by 3 US cents.
“The BAM spinoff was successful with fundamentals remaining strong (e.g., continued positive fundraising momentum),” he added.
Keeping an “outperform” recommendation, Mr. Kwan raised his target to US$54 from US$53. The average is US$48.75.
Others making changes include:
* Scotia’s Mario Saric to US$54 from US$55.75 with a “sector outperform” rating.
“Overall, we note BN sentiment has improved, but still lagging BAM and its peers post spin,” he said. “We think there is significantly more share price upside over time. We estimate current share price implies $0.25B of real estate value or 0.3 TIMES Q2/22A FFO (1.1 times Q4/22A FFO). The discount to Forward NAVPS is near trough, despite a decent BAM trading multiple, implying lack of market conviction in BN’s Investor Day 5-Year growth forecast. We think greater conviction in BN NAVPS/FFOPS growth = amplified share price returns (i.e., compression in trading discount). In the near-term, given the FFO erosion due to higher real estate floating debt costs, we still think a Fed transition to ‘Pause’ and then “Cut” can also help sentiment. Net-net, we believe BN remains a high-quality offering for Value and Growth investors alike.”
* CIBC’s Dean Wilkinson to US$50 from US$53 with an “outperformer” rating.
* JP Morgan’s Kenneth Worthington to US$47 from US$46 with an “overweight” rating.
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In a research note titled Not Totally Immune to Macro Headwinds, but Pretty Darn Close, RBC Dominion Securities analyst Drew McReynolds reaffirmed his view of Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI-N, TRI-T) “as a high-quality core holding with both growth and defensive attributes.”
“We believe the company has the ability to deliver average annual total returns of approximately 10-15 per cent over the longer term and has entered a new phase of 8-12-per-cent annual dividend growth underpinned by a step-up in FCF generation post-Change Program beginning in 2023,” he said. “While we see more limited near-term upside in the stock given current valuation (FTM [forward 12-month] EV/EBITDA of 19.5 times versus a recent historical range of 14-23 times) against the backdrop of rising macro headwinds in 2023, we believe the stock at current levels can still deliver double-digit annual total returns longer-term reflecting a resilient asset mix, forecast 12-per-cent NAV CAGR [net asset value compound annual growth rate] (2022E-2025E) and attractive capital return program.”
TSX-listed shares of the news and information company slipped 1.9 per cent on Thursday following the premarket release of its fourth-quarter results and 2023 guidance.
“Management updated 2023 guidance, particularly: (i) 2023 adjusted EBITDA margins of 39 per cent versus previous guidance of 39-40 per cent (or approximately 44 per cent versus 44-45 per cent for the Big 3); and (i) FCF of $1.8-billion versus previous guidance of $1.9- $2.0-billion,” the analyst said. “Putting these tweaks into perspective: (i) 39 per cent is consistent with Q3/22 management commentary, and despite being set in 2021, now incorporates inflationary impacts, reinvestment, -50bps dilution from the SurePrep acquisition and $20-million in additional severence in Q1/23; and (ii) FCF of $1.8B (versus our previous $1.85-billion estimate) incorporates higher capex (7 per cent C.I. versus 6.0-6.5 per cent previously), real estate-related spend of $30-million, the loss of $40-million on divestitures, and a $30-million drag from acquisition integration. While not totally immune to macro headwinds, we believe this is pretty darn close.”
Also seeing “a fully balanced” capital program, Mr. McReynolds maintained a US$125 target and “outperform” recommendation. The average on the Street is US$118.74.
Elsewhere, Scotia Capital’s Maher Yaghi raised his recommendation for Thomson Reuters to “sector outperform” from “sector perform” with a target of US$127, up from US$126.
“We believe TRI’s Q4 results reflected continued momentum in its ‘Big 3′ segments, driving adj. EBITDA and EPS ahead of our and consensus estimates,” he said. “While the company slightly reduced its 2023 FCF guidance, the change was due to recent divestitures and new investments and not from lower performance from existing businesses. With close to 80 per cent of total revenues coming from recurring streams supported by multi-year contracts, we remain confident in the business growth stability in F23. On top of that, we commend management’s disciplined approach in balancing growth initiatives and shareholder returns. We see the potential monetization of a portion of the company’s LSEG holdings in 2023 as an important catalyst for the stock. Combined with the stock trading at a discount to its peers on EV/EBITDA, we are upgrading our recommendation to Sector Outperform from Sector Perform while also slightly increasing our target as we upped our 2024 estimates.”
Analysts making target changes include:
* Canaccord Genuity’s Aravinda Galappatthige to US$124 from US$118 with a “buy” rating.
“TRI reported Q4/22 results [Thursday] morning, and it was another solid beat, ahead of us and consensus, both from a profitability standpoint as well as organic growth,” he said. “Impressively, the company largely maintained its 2023 guidance (which was first initiated in early 2021) despite macro conditions, still calling for 5.5-6-per-cent organic revenue growth and 39-per-cent EBITDA margins (up from 35.1 per cent in 2022). The only notable variances were in total revenue, which were lowered from 5.5-6 per cent to 4.5-5 per cent entirely on divestitures and FCF, which was lowered from $1.9-2-billion to $1.8-million due to M&A ($80-million) and a $30-million spend item on real estate reorganization.”
“We see the 2023 guide as a sign of resilience in TRI’s core businesses as well as underlying growth. Recall that management did previously allude to somewhat extended sales cycles and the fact that 25 per cent of annual net sales is generally secured in November/December. Hence, we deduce only modest disruption despite a slowing economic backdrop, from the guidance. It is also noteworthy that 2023 guidance was initially provided as early as February 2021, and the central metrics (organic revenue growth and margins) have barely changed despite material changes to the macro environment, including sharply higher inflation which naturally impacts TRI’s people-heavy cost base. This, in our view, speaks quite well to the success of the Change Programme and the outlook for the business.”
* National Bank Financial’s Adam Shine to $48 from $45 with an “outperform” rating.
* TD Securities’ Vince Valentini to $175 from $170 with a “buy” rating.
* BMO’s Tim Casey to $161 from $165 with an “outperform” rating.
* CIBC World Markets’ Scott Fletcher to US$126 from US$124 with an “outperformer” rating.
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In response to their earnings releases on Thursday, CIBC World Markets analyst Paul Holden made a pair of rating changes to Canadian insurance companies.
He upgraded Great-West Lifeco Inc. (GWO-T) to “outperformer” from “neutral” with a $40 target, rising from $37 and above the $36.80 average
“The earnings outlook has improved for Europe and CRS, and management guidance confirms strong growth ahead for Empower. We think IFRS 17 risk for GWO is lower than average and its capital position has improved significantly,” said Mr. Holden.
Elsewhere, others making changes include:
* Desjardins Securities’ Doug Young to $37 from $35 with a “buy” rating.
“EPS was above expectations,” said Mr. Young. “The beat was not tax-driven, the LICAT messaging under IFRS 17 was positive and its Capital and Risk Solutions (CRS) business had a good quarter. However, we have a mixed view on the near-term outlook at Empower and wonder how sustainable the European earnings are given the change in how yield enhancement gains flow through under IFRS 17.”
* Credit Suisse’s Joo Ho Kim to $37 from $36 with a “neutral” rating.
“GWO’s Q4 results were solid, as stronger than expected results from both Europe and Capital and Risk Solutions segments were offset by continued challenges at Putnam in particular,” he said. “While management is guiding to solid earnings growth from Empower for 2023 (targeting 15-20 per cent), we could see some challenges tied to retention depending on the results of client migration, in addition to market dynamics that could skew results. For Europe, despite the strong performance this quarter and the improved outlook for the region more recently, we remain more conservative when it comes to the growth outlook as we look for further signs of strength.”
* Scotia’s Meny Grauman to $39 from $38 with a “sector perform” rating.
Conversely, Mr. Holden downgraded Sun Life Financial Corp. (SLF-T) to “neutral” from “outperformer” with a $73 target, up from $71, citing a single-digit potential return to his revised target. The average is $72.93.
Analysts making target adjustments include:
* RBC’s Darko Mihelic to $76 from $75 with a “sector perform” rating.
“We ‘MacGyvered’ our IFRS 4 model to approximate an output under IFRS 17 that looks reasonable to us based on recent earnings trends and on our interpretation of SLF’s IFRS 17 earnings impacts,” he said. “SLF now expects a high single-digit impact on the LICAT ratio on transition to IFRS 17, which we view positively. Good upside in Wealth and Asia segments (as they lap challenged 2022 results) appear masked if comparing IFRS 17 to IFRS 4. We think IFRS 17 EPS next year is very close to IFRS 4 2022 EPS. SP, we see SLF’s stock as fairly valued.”
* Desjardins Securities’ Doug Young to $75 from $73 with a “buy” rating.
“Regardless of how we cut it, SLF beat consensus and our EPS estimates,” said Mr. Young. “More importantly, at least to us, these were fairly easy results to dig through, with some good underlying trends in the US, Canada and Asia.”
“We like SLF’s business composition, execution and capital deployment.”
* National Bank’s Gabriel Dechaine to $71 from $69 with a “sector perform” rating.
* BMO’s Tom MacKinnon to $78 from $76 with a “market perform” rating.
* Credit Suisse’s Joo Ho Kim to $75 from $74 with an “outperform” rating.
* Canaccord Genuity’s Scott Chan to $75 from $72 with a “buy” rating.
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Equity analysts on the Street are expressing concern over the state of Canopy Growth Corp.’s (WEED-T) balance sheet after the cannabis producer announced a plan to moving forward with the largest round of job cuts and cost reductions in its decade-long history on Thursday, sending its shares plummeting 16.6 per cent in Toronto.
“Results were weak across the board despite ongoing efforts to cut costs and stabilize cannabis market share,” said Eight Capital’s Ty Collin. “We estimate that WEED has less than 3 quarters of cash runway given its current burn rate and upcoming debt maturities, sharpening the risk of a significant dilution event in the nearterm. Strategic changes to cannabis operations announced yesterday carry significant operational risk with dubious cost benefits, in our view.”
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Maintaining his “sell” recommendation, Mr. Collin lowered his target for Canopy shares to $1.75 from $2.75, representing a negative 43-per-cent return. The average is $3.75.
“Our reduced target price primarily reflects our lower forward-looking sales outlook for Canopy’s core operations, along with balance sheet deterioration and, in our view, growing risk of shareholder dilution,” he said.
Others dropping their targets include:
* CIBC World Markets’ John Zamparo to $1.75 from $2.50 with an “underperformer” rating.
* Piper Sandler’s Michael Lavery to $2 from $2.50 with an “underweight” rating.
* Alliance Global Partners’ Aaron Grey to $3.50 from $4.50 with a “neutral” rating.
* Canaccord Genuity’s Matt Bottomley to $3 from $5 with a “hold” rating.
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Reiterating his positive view of the Canadian Energy Infrastructure sector, Stifel analyst Cole Pereira initiated coverage of Keyera Corp. (KEY-T) with a “buy” recommendation, seeing it poised to benefit from a key near-term catalyst.
“In 2Q23, KEY will reach an important milestone as it finally brings its 50-per-cent owned Key Access Pipeline System (KAPS) into service,” he said.
“KAPS ... should result in a meaningful improvement in both its earnings power and leverage metrics. Additionally, the company plans to pursue a modest growth capital program in 2023 to drive its leverage back down to the midpoint of its target range. We forecast this to occur by the end of 2023 and, as such, expect KEY will be positioned to revisit dividend increases in 2H23. While there is additional contracting work required for KAPS to reach the company’s return hurdle, we ultimately believe it will be successful — though it may take some time. We believe these factors should drive valuation upside.”
Mr. Pereira emphasized Keyera shares have “underperformed” peers over the past few years during the construction of KAPS in a “challenging environment.”
“From 2020-2022, Keyera’s share price declined 13 per cent, while ENB, GEI and PPL were down 4 per cent on average and the S&P was up 19 per cent — though it still outperformed TRP, which was down 22 per cent,” he said. “KAPS was originally planned to cost $1.3-billion ($650-million net to KEY), but the challenges of construction over the past few years have seen the cost increase to $2.0-billion ($1.0-billion net to KEY).”
“Its valuation remains attractive relative to long-term average and its peers. Keyera currently trades at 10.5 times 2024 estimated EV/EBITDA and 9.2 times 2024 estimated P/DCFPS vs. its respective 10-year averages of 11.3 times and 11.8 times. Additionally, KEY’s valuation at 9.2 times 2024 P/DCFPS remains discounted to GEI at 9.7 times (Stifel), ENB at 9.7 times (consensus) and PPL at 9.8 times (consensus). Given the points above, we believe KEY’s shares are poised to re-rate closer to its long-term average and its peers. However, one near-term valuation hurdle may be that TRP now trades at 8.7 times 2024 consensus P/DCFPS, however this largely reflects the construction risks of Coastal GasLink as well as increasing interest rates.”
Also touting its “attractive integrated infrastructure network with Montney exposure,” the analyst set a target of $36. The average on the Street is $34.47.
Separately, Mr. Pereira initiated coverage of peer Gibson Energy Inc. (GEI-T) with a “hold” rating and $25.50 target, below the average by 7 cents.
“We highlight four key points for investors: 1) the company boasts a strong management team behind one of the best turnarounds in the space; 2) it has a well-demonstrated commitment to shareholder returns; 3) however, more clarity on forward growth is needed; and 4) its valuation is currently trading in line with its larger peers,” he said.
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In other analyst actions:
* Stifel’s Cody Kwong upgraded Bonterra Energy Corp. (BNE-T) to “buy” from “hold” and raised his target by $1 to $9.25. The average is $10.17.
“Bonterra reported its 2022 year-end reserve results and an operational update, that in isolation, didn’t harbor anything too notable vs consensus expectations, save for a dramatic improvement in operating costs quarter-over-quarter,” he said. “With that said, we are shifting to a more positive outlook on Bonterra given it has now cut its debt in half over the past two years, affording it the flexibility to now consider strategic acquisitions, new play concepts, and get back to its roots of being a meaningful returner of capital. With our impression that BNE could offer differentiated rate of change catalysts in 2023, we are elevating our ranking.”
* TD Securities Greg Barnes upgraded Cameco Corp. (CCO-T) to “action list buy” from “buy” with a $49 target, up from $41. Others making changes include: Raymond James’ Brian MacArthur to $48 from $45 with an “outperform” rating, Canaccord Genuity’s Katie Lachapelle to $48 from $46 with a “buy” rating and Scotia’s Orest Wowkodaw to $50 from $43 with a “sector outperform” rating. The average is $45.08.
“Cameco released strong Q4/22 financial results [Thursday] morning, better-than-expected guidance, and significant new long-term contracts. These positive developments improve our near-term and medium-term financial forecasts for the company and, as a result, we are increasing our target price,” said Ms. Lachapelle.
* RBC Dominion Securities’ Sabahat Khan hiked his ATS Corp. (ATS-T) target to $64, above the $60.75 average, from $55 with an “outperform” rating. Others making changes include: Raymond James’ Michael Glen to $59 from $53 with an “outperform” rating and National Bank’s Maxim Sytchev to $61 from $57 with an “outperform” rating.
“We continue to view ATS shares in a very favourable light given the company’s positive thematic backdrop (healthcare, EV, general automation, reshoring, labour scarcity, etc.),” said Mr. Sytchev.
* Canaccord Genuity’s Matt Bottomley cut his Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB-T) target to $1.50 from $2, below the $1.90 average, with a “hold” rating.
“Our lowered valuation is not related directly to FQ2 results but more a function of increased sector risk (predominantly the Canadian recreational opportunity), which, although not necessarily core to the overall ACB strategy, nonetheless slightly weighs on our overall SOTP analysis,” he said.
* Ahead of the release of its fourth-quarter results, Desjardins Securities’ Gary Ho raised his Boyd Group Services Inc. (BYD-T) target to $245 from $230 with a “buy” rating. The average is $233.
“While significant progress has been made on rate increases, more is needed in 2023. Demand has shown no cracks, driven by higher severity and frequency, while BYD continues to build capacity through workforce initiatives such as the TDP. Continued progress on labour, coupled with a resumed M&A trajectory and BYD’s recession-resilient attributes, support our Buy rating,” said Mr. Ho.
* Scotia Capital’s Michael Doumet raised his Colliers International Group Inc. (CIGI-Q, CIGI-T) target to US$140 from US$123, while BMO’s Stephen MacLeod hiked his target to US$150 from US$127 with an “outperform” rating. The average is US$141.29.
* RBC’s Geoffrey Kwan raised his target for Definity Financial Corp. (DFY-T) to $49 from $46 with an “outperform” rating. Other changes include: TD Securities’ Mario Mendonca to $45 from $46 with a “buy” rating and National Bank’s Jaeme Gloyn bumped his target to $48 from $47 also with an “outperform” rating. The average is $43.23.
“We believe the P&C insurance industry is well positioned for 2023. We view DFY as a land grab story with an ROE expansion kicker,” said Mr. Gloyn.
* Mr. Gloyn also raised his IGM Financial Inc. (IGM-T) target to $48 from $45 with an “outperform” rating. Others making changes include: Scotia’s Phil Hardie to $47 from $45 with a “sector perform” rating and BMO’s Tom MacKinnon to $45 from $44 with a “market perform” rating. The average is $44.38.
“We view IGM as the most defensive name across the fundcos,” said Mr. Hardie. “We believe that given its significant scale, multi-channel distribution model, solid balance sheet, and affiliation with the Power Group, IGM is likely viewed as the most resilient and defensive name across the group. IGM also continues to have the strongest operational momentum of the group. We believe that Mackenzie will be able to control outflows in a dire scenario, given its strong operating momentum, and that Wealth Management’s client assets will provide better stickiness in a continued broad market sell-off scenario. With an estimated net debt-to-EBITDA (NTM) ratio of 0.9 times at the end of Q4/22, IGM’s strong balance sheet also provides it with more resilience compared to peers. We also believe that IGM can deliver very solid upside returns in a market recovery environment, driven by solid operational leverage and optionality from its strategic investment portfolio.”
* In response to “mixed” quarterly results. Scotia Capital’s Benoit Laprade raised his Interfor Corp. (IFP-T) target to $32, below the $35.50 average, from $30 with a “sector outperform” rating.
“Valuation remains very attractive,” he said. “IFP’s lumber production is up 40 per cent from Q1/20 while shares o/s have dropped by 24 per cent over the same period. Our revised 2023-2024 estimates reflect an expected minor reduction in lumber duty deposit rates from Q4/23 onward as per published preliminary rates (from 8.59 per cent to 8.24 per cent).”
* RBC’s Walter Spracklin moved his target for Mullen Group Ltd. (MTL-T) to $14 from $13 with a “sector perform” rating. The average is $16.25.
* Piper Sandler’s Luke Lemoine cut his Precision Drilling Corp. (PDS-N, PD-T) target to US$115 from US$128, keeping an “overweight” rating. The average is $144.96 (Canadian).
* RBC’s Irene Nattel increased her target for Saputo Inc. (SAP-T) to $45 from $40 with an “outperform” rating. The average is $40.88.
* CIBC World Markets’ Todd Coupland hiked his target for Shopify Inc. (SHOP-N, SHOP-T) to US$65 from US$50, above the US$43.99 average, with an “outperformer” rating.
“While e-commerce outlooks have been mixed so far in 2023 (e.g., Amazon, Affirm), Q4 web traffic trends among an aggregate group of Shopify Plus merchants we track support Shopify achieving FactSet GMV growth forecasts of 7.9 per cent. These trends have picked up slightly in Q1/23 and also support the sequential improvement in FactSet forecasts reflected for that quarter (up 12.5 per cent). Shopify is set to report its Q4 results and outlook on February 15. Both trends are constructive for Shopify shares,” said Mr. Coupland.
* CIBC World Markets’ Dean Wilkinson raised his SmartCentres REIT (SRU.UN-T) target to $34 from $33 with an “outperformer” rating. The average is $30.25.
* Desjardins Securities’ Jerome Dubreuil trimmed his Telus Corp. (T-T) target to $32 from $33 with a “buy” rating. Others making changes include: TD Securities’ Vince Valentini to $31 from $32 with a “buy” rating.m National Bank’s Adam Shine to $30 from $31 with an “outperform” rating, RBC’s Drew McReynolds to $33 from $34 with an “outperform” rating and Canaccord Genuity’s Aravinda Galappatthige to $33 from $34 with a “buy” rating. The average is $32.31.
* Analysts making target changes for Telus International Inc. (TIXT-N, TIXT-T) include: RBC’s Drew McReynolds to US$29 from US$38 with an “outperform” rating, CIBC’s Stephanie Price to US$30 from US$27 with an “outperformer” rating, BMO’s Tim Casey to US$26 from US$27 with an “outperform” rating and Credit Suisse’s Kevin McVeigh to US$25 from US$27 with a “neutral” rating. The average is US$27.
David Leeder