The Onex Corp. logo is displayed at the company's annual general meeting in Toronto in 2012.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Inside the Market's roundup of some of today's key analyst actions. This file will be updated during the trading day.
Onex Corp. is unlikely to match the pace of growth it realized over the last few years, RBC Dominion Securities analyst Geoffrey Kwan said.
"Our downgrade reflects Onex becoming a victim of its own success," Mr. Kwan said. The company has established a track record of profitable investments, generating growth in net asset value (NAV) and share price.
But the company is now sitting on almost $3.5-billion in cash, representing approximately half of the company's NAV, Mr. Kwan said.
"Given we assume a 0-per-cent return on cash in our 12-month target and uncertainty on the pace of re-investing the high cash level, we believe this is likely to result in significantly lower NAV growth over the next year versus Onex's long-term target of 15-per-cent annual growth in NAV per share."
He downgraded the stock to "underperform" from "sector perform" and lowered his target price to $66 (Canadian) from $68. The analyst consensus price target is $67.29, according to Thomson Reuters.
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Raymond James Ltd. analyst Ben Cherniavsky says his decision to upgrade Cervus Equipment Corp. back in July was premature.
"Yesterday's weak 2Q14 results revealed that the near-term headwinds Cervus is facing are more significant than we assumed," he says, in a research note. "We still view the company as a long-term growth story, but believe that a neutral view on the stock–which is where we were just four weeks ago–is more appropriate while management works through various challenges."
Mr. Cherniavsky adds that valuation is also a factor, as the stock now trades at a 2015E P/E of 14.1x.
"We believe this is fair value compared to the Machinery peer group average P/E of 14.5x, which is what we use for our new target."
Mr. Cherniavsky is downgrading Cervus to "market perform" from "outperform" and cutting his price target to $22 (Canadian) from $24. The analyst consensus price target is $24.55, according to Thomson Reuters.
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Chorus Aviation Inc. is the subject of a downgrade from CIBC World Markets analyst Kevin Chiang
Mr. Chiang notes that while he views the company's dividend as safe and agrees with its strategic plan to cut costs, its total return to target of ~8 per cent is the lowest amongst the airlines he covers.
"In addition, with CHR.B trading at 4.5x 2015E EBITDA, it is at the upper end of its trading range since 2009," he says. "And given our favourable view on the airline cycle, we continue to prefer to play the space through the scheduled carriers."
Mr. Chiang is downgrading Chorus to "sector underperform" from "sector perform" and maintaining his $4.50 (Canadian) price target. The analyst consensus price target is $4.25, according to Thomson Reuters.
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In other analyst actions:
Canaccord Genuity downgrades Questerre Energy to "speculative buy" from "buy".
RBC downgrades Onex to "underperform" from "sector perform".
Alcentra Capital Corp was upgraded to "outperform" from "neutral" at Robert Baird by equity analyst Bryce Rowe. The 12-month target price is $15.00 (U.S.) per share.
Aimia Inc was upgraded to "buy" from "hold" at Industrial Alliance by equity analyst Neil Linsdell. The 12-month target price is $20.00 (Canadian) per share.
Apollo Global Management LLC as downgraded to "market perform" from "outperform" at Wells Fargo by equity analyst Christopher Harris.
bebe stores inc was downgraded to "neutral" from "buy" at Janney Montgomery by equity analyst Adrienne Tennant. The 12-month target price is $3.00 (U.S.) per share.
Cypress Energy Partners LP was upgraded to "outperform" from "oeutral" at Robert Baird by equity analyst Ethan Bellamy. The 12-month target price is $27.00 (U.S.)per share.
Calavo Growers Inc was downgraded to "neutral" from "outperform" at Wedbush by equity analyst Kurt Frederick. The 12-month target price is $39.00 (U.S.) per share.
E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc was upgraded to "neutral" from "underweight" at JPMorgan by equity analyst Alex Yao. The target price is $15.00 (U.S.) per share.
Ducommun Inc was downgraded to "neutral" from "buy" at DA Davidson by equity analyst Jb Groh. The target price is $34.00 (U.S.) per share.