The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that National Bank's Maxim Sytchev has reaffirmed his "sector perform" recommendation for AutoCanada. The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. Sytchev slashed his share target by $8 to $18. Analysts on average target the shares at $30.75. Mr. Sytchev is somewhat bearish on AutoCanada. He says AutoCanada is "not the right name to own at this point of the cycle." He warns near-term performance "will be a grind" as "overstretched consumers [are] creating a tough operating environment." He says in a note: "Consumers are trading down (creating an inventory mismatch), OEMs are likely introducing incentives that are bound to compress margins and floorplan financing squeezing the EPS from the bottom. This is not a great combination. While 5.1 times (ex IFRS) 2024 estimated EV/EBITDA does not sound egregious, we do not have a lot of confidence in our forecasts (while consensus numbers are simply too high). We are not convinced that we are anywhere close to the resolution of the credit cycle and hence see little reason to be long a discretionary name at the moment." The Globe reported on March 6 that Mr. Sytchev rated AutoCanada "sector perform" when it was worth $21.45.