The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Desjardins's Gary Ho has reaffirmed his "buy" call for Ag Growth International. The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. Ho boosted his share target by a loonie to $86. Analysts on average target the shares at $81.56. Ahead of the April 29 release of its first quarter 2024 financial results, Mr. Ho remains "confident" Ag Growth International can achieve its full-year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization guidance of $310-million, which is a gain of 5 per cent year-over-year. However, Mr. Ho warns the quarter is the "seasonally softest" for the Winnipeg-based agricultural equipment maker and thinks "growth is more weighted toward Q2–Q4 (delivery of commercial projects are more 2H-weighted)." After a modest reduction to his near-term forecast, he is projecting EBITDA of $52-million for the quarter, up 17 per cent year-over-year but below the $56-million consensus, which he thinks is high. Mr. Ho says in a note: "We expect growth in the order book vs a year ago, but it could be lumpy sequentially given the timing of commercial projects (completions vs new wins). The order book has a strong base of commercial projects expected to ship in 2H."