The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Canaccord analyst Gabriel Dechaine is "sticking with the banks" in 2017 despite a momentum shift in favour of Canadian lifecos. The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. Dechaine says in a note: "The Big-Six Canadian banks rose by an average of 25 per cent in 2016, exceeding the average 15 per cent of the Big-Four Canadian lifecos. However, the lifecos had a stronger fourth quarter, outperforming the banks by 400 basis points. With performance momentum shifting in favour of the lifecos, it is tempting to switch our relative bias. However, we are reluctant to do so since: (1) we believe the timing of how rates will impact earnings will be more gradual than the market expects; (2) not all macro factors have been positive over the past three months; and (3) though higher rates will help build excess capital, near-term/accretive deployment is low probability, in our view." Mr. Dechaine continues to rate Bank of Montreal "buy." He hiked his share target to $104 from $99. Analysts on average target the shares at $96.59. As well, he rates Bank of Nova Scotia "buy," while boosting his share target to $84 from $80. Analysts on average target the shares at $79.26.
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