A Canadian Tire store is seen in North Vancouver, B.C.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press
Inside the Market's roundup of some of today's key analyst actions. This file will be updated often during the trading day so check back for new details.
Missteps in Bank of America Corp.'s capital planning processes makes UBS "nervous" about the bank's stock, the brokerage said in a note Friday.
UBS analyst Brennan Hawken says modifications in the bank's Basel models "raises the risk of qualitative failure in this year's CCAR [the Federal Reserve Systems comprehensive capital analysis and review program, done each year]."
As a result, UBS is lowering its 2015 and 2016 estimates by 5 cents and 15 cents to $1.20 and $1.60 per share.
UBS cut its rating on Bank of America to "neutral" from "buy" and lowered its price target to $16 (U.S.) from $20.
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Stantec Inc.'s fourth quarter results "missed the mark," Dundee Securities analyst Maxim Sytchev said in a note Friday.
The engineering firm's gross revenue organic growth, the key metric the brokerage examines, declined 0.2 per cent compared to 5.9 per cent in the previous quarter. Since the company's trading multiples generally follow its organic growth rates, "the decelerating organic growth pace does not bode well for Stantec's stock performance over the next six to eight months in our opinion."
Dundee cuts its rating on the stock to "neutral" from "buy" and cut its 12-month target price to $34 (Canadian) from $38. However, the stock was upgraded to "buy" from "hold" at Laurentian Bank with a target price of $38 per share.
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Canadian Tire Corporation Ltd. is on a roll, says CIBC World Markets analyst Mark Petrie.
Fourth-quarter 2014 results from the retailer were strong, and Mr. Petrie explains that his caution regarding a lack of snow in December proved unfounded.
"The CTC battleship is getting stronger by the quarter," he says. "Sales growth is strong, gross margins are healthy, and though necessary investments in the business will make opex leverage a challenge, the company should still deliver reasonable earnings growth. Furthermore, the diversity of the business (where nearly half of the value is outside of Retail) means that while upside torque is more limited, so is downside, and challenges such as FX and weakness in Alberta are manageable."
Mr. Petrie maintains his "sector outperformer" rating and is boosting his target price to $142 (Canadian) from $135.
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In other analyst actions:
Bombardier Inc. was downgraded to "underperform" from "neutral" at Macquarie. The 12-month target price is $2 (Canadian) per share.
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. was rated new "outperform" at Macquarie. The 12-month target price is $37 (U.S.) per share.
Leisureworld Senior Care Corp. was downgraded to "hold" from "buy" at Laurentian Bank. The 12-month target price is $15 (Canadian) per share.
Aimia Inc. was cut to "sector perform" from "outperform" at National Bank.
FedEx Corp. was raised to "outperform" from "neutral" by Credit Suisse. The target price is $203 (U.S.) per share.
Constellation Software Inc. was downgraded to "hold" from "buy" at TD Securities. The 12-month target price is $470 (Canadian) per share.
Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. was raised to "buy" from "hold" at Jacob Securities. The 12-month target price is $12.80 (Canadian) per share.
Midway Gold Corp. was downgraded to "hold" from "speculative buy" at Canaccord Genuity. The 12-month target price is 95 cents (Canadian) per share.
Papa John's International Inc. was downgraded to "hold" from "buy" at Feltl. The 12-month target price is $65 (U.S.) per share.
With files from Bloomberg News