The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Scotiabank says Canadian telecom stocks should no longer have an underweight position in portfolios thanks to their more attractive valuations. The Globe's Darcy Keith writes that telecom stocks have significantly underperformed the broader market since the beginning of the year. While Scotiabank says a major buying opportunity has yet to arrive, the sector is not expensive either, and an analysis of past interest rate cycles points to a favourable valuation backdrop. Scotiabank says telecom stocks now deserve a market weight position. Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi says in a note: "We have argued for the past six months for an underweight position in the sector due to increasing bond rates, competitive intensity, and regulatory risk. Not being permabears, we think it is always good to check whether current prices are taking future expectations into consideration. ... Our analysis indicates that we have essentially moved from an overvalued to a fair value situation." Mr. Yaghi rates BCE "sector perform." He targets the shares at $63. The Globe reported on June 1 that Mr. Yaghi had an unchanged "sector perform" ranking on BCE, which was then worth $61.08.