The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, March 26, edition that National Bank Financial analyst Adam Shine predicts that BCE will face tough competition this fiscal year, but expects the telecom company to make gains through expensive savings and growth. The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Shine has reaffirmed his "outperform" recommendation for BCE. Mr. Shine trimmed his share target by $2 to $53. Analysts on average target the shares at $54.65. For its first quarter of 2024, Mr. Shine is now projecting a revenue decline of 0.4 per cent year-over-year to $6.02-billion, narrowly lower than the Street's expectation of $6.11-billion. However, he sees earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rising 0.4 per cent to $2.54-billion, also under the consensus of $2.58-billion. Mr. Shine says in a note: "While we have less wireless product sales than consensus, our media estimates for revs/EBITDA are lower given a $37-million retroactive carriage adjustment in 1Q23 that the Street will need to factor in. We expect 1Q CTS [communication and technology services] revs up 0.4 per cent and EBITDA up 1.5 per cent, with media down 6 per cent and down 20 per cent."