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Great-West Lifeco world headquarters is pictured in Winnipeg, Tuesday, February 19, 2013.JOHN WOODS/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.

AltaCorp Capital Research analyst Jeremy McCrea has initiated coverage on Encana spinoff PrairieSky Royalty Ltd. with the most bullish price target on the Street so far. Shares in the company hit a new record high today.

The stock has already climbed almost 50 per cent since its initial public offering at the end of May, but Mr. McCrea thinks investors can still climb aboard and make decent returns. He set a price target of $47 (Canadian) alongside an "outperform" rating. That's well above the analyst consensus price target over the next year of $41.63, according to Thomson Reuters data.

"With the share price up 48 per cent since the IPO, and the stock now trading at an Enterprise Value to Debt Adjusted Cash Flow multiple of 19.2x, we suspect there has become a general reluctance by investors to step into the name," Mr. MrCrea said.

But, "in PrairieSky's highly unique case, we believe its 5.2 million of fee title acres (and the extent of drilling opportunities within) have yet to be fully appreciated. Overall, with a growing cash position, no operational or capital risk, and a top quality management team, we're quite comfortable with the current valuation and believe the growth into 2015 (that could surprise) will continue to push the share price higher."

PrairieSky holds Encana's vast expanses of oil-and-gas-rich lands on which other energy producers pay royalties to drill. PrairieSky can offer third-party producers access to Encana's seismic data, as well as the opportunity to establish a position quickly from a 5.2 million acre land base, rather than build acreage piecemeal over a period of months or years.

Earlier today, Shoreline Energy Corp. announced that it has agreed to sell its royalty interests in its Canadian land base to PrairieSky for $9-million (Canadian).

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AltaCorp Capital Research upgraded Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. to "sector perform" from "underperform" and hiked its price target to $34 (Canadian) from $30 after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter results Thursday.

Analyst John Chu cited several reasons for investors to be more optimistic on Potash shares. While there were concerns after the first quarter that China's appetite will wane for potash imports, that no longer appears to be the case. China exercised an option from the contract it signed with Canpotex in January for more volumes in the second half of this year. Potash believes China's domestic production is maxing out, so any additional consumption will soon need to be met with imported volumes, Mr. Chu noted.

Meanwhile, North American order books for third-quarter deliveries are robust. "Strong crop acreage, depletion of potash in the soil from under-applying the last few years all combined with a record 2013 harvest and expectations of a near-record this year are driving robust potash demand heading into the fall season," he noted.

Mr. Chu still is urging some caution going forward. "While strong North American potash demand appears to be going directly to land application, the global market has seen modest restocking which has developed some mild upward pricing momentum since China and India signed contracts earlier this year. However, we remain concerned that the solid demand recovery in 2014 could revert back to weaker levels in 2015 after restocking and ample land application," he said in a research note.

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Great-West Lifeco Inc. has been upgraded by Canaccord Genuity analyst Gabriel Dechaine, who says his earlier "sell" rating is no longer reasonable.

Mr. Dechaine provides three reasons for his improved outlook on the insurer: an atypical price-earnings discount on the stock relative to peers, "admittedly attractive" earnings per share growth potential of 13 per cent in 2015 (on par with what he expects from peers), and the stock's 9 per cent year-to-date underperformance versus its peer group.

Mr. Dechaine upgraded Great-West Life to "hold" from "sell" and maintains his $31 (Canadian) target price. The analyst consensus price target over the next year is $32.80, according to Thomson Reuters.

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Laurentian Bank Securities today initiated coverage on Denison Mines Corp. with a "buy" rating and $1.90 (Canadian) price target. It cited several reasons for its bullish view, including its belief that uranium prices are bottoming, the company's strong exploration potential and significant existing resources, low political risk and strong management.

But also key is that Laurentian Bank believes Denison Mines is an attractive takeover candidate, especially given the scarcity of quality uranium assets in the marketplace.

"We believe Denison represents an attractive target given its very significant resources within the world-class Athabasca Basin along with the company's minority ownership interest in the strategic McClean Lake mill. In our view, uranium producers looking to get a foot print within the Athabasca Basin would likely have an interest in Denison in order to secure sufficient resources to justify a development decision," said analyst Chris Chang.

Mr. Chang believes Denison's flagship Wheeler River project could become one of the highest grade undeveloped uranium projects in the world.

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At least 13 brokerages cut their price targets on Amazon.com, by as much as $60 (U.S.) and to a low of $340, after the company reported a bigger-than-expected second-quarter loss on Thursday. At least two downgraded ratings to the equivalent of "hold".

Read more here from Reuters.

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In other analyst actions:

Canaccord Genuity upgraded Exco Technologies to "buy" from "hold" on margin improvement, hikes target to $13 (Canadian) from $9.25.

Benchmark upgraded Imax to "buy" from "hold" with a price target of $30.56 (U.S.).

FirstEnergy Capital downgraded Greenfields Petroleum to "speculative buy" from "outperform" and cut its price target to $9 (Canadian) from $11.

AltaCorp Capital Research boosted its price target on Encana to $27.50 (Canadian) from $25 and maintained a "sector perform" rating.

Raymond James raised its price target on WestJet Airlines to $34 (Canadian) from $28 and maintained an "outperform" rating.

Raymond James raised its price target on Air Canada to $7.50 (Canadian) from $6.50 and maintained an "underperform" rating.

Dundee Securities cut its price target on Domtar to $55 (U.S.) from $60 and reiterated a "buy" rating. Raymond James cut its price target to $55 as well from $65 and maintained an "outperform" rating.

TD Securities initiated coverage on Torstar with a "hold" rating and $8 (Canadian) price target.

Deutsche Bank raised its price target on American Airlines Group to $54 (U.S.) from $45 and maintained a "buy" rating.

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