The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, Jan. 25, edition that Scotia Capital analysts Andrew Weisel and Robert Hope see valuations for North American utility and power companies as "modestly attractive" heading into earnings season. The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. Hope downgraded Atco to "sector perform" from "sector outperform," citing a narrowing discount to his implied net asset value. Mr. Hope cut his share target back by $3 to $43. Analysts on average target the shares at $45.57. Mr. Hope says in a note: "Over the last six months, Atco's shares have outperformed Canadian Utilities (CU) by almost 7 per cent. This combined with our view that the higher rate environment has moderated the value of some of Atco's wholly owned businesses has narrowed the implied discount to NAV. The discount now sits a 26 per cent, versus the five-year average of 23 per cent. Looking forward, we are uncertain what will drive a further narrowing of the discount, and as a result, have moderated the discount in our target valuation to 25 per cent versus 20 per cent previously." The Globe reported on Sept. 19 that Mr. Hope continued to rate Atco "sector outperform." The shares could then be had for $37.11.