The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that of all the Canadian banks, BMO Nesbitt Burns is most bullish on Bank of Nova Scotia ($59.28). The Globe's Darcy Keith writes in the Eye On Equities column that BMO Nesbitt Burns says Canadians are deep into debt and the housing market is slowing, but investors should not assume that will translate into a poor outlook for Canadian bank stocks. When looking at the total returns offered by the banks, including dividends, BMO believes that they actually "remain under-appreciated." BMO analyst Tom MacKinnon says, "We believe that Canadian banks can deliver solid 5-7-per-cent earnings per share and dividend growth in a slow growth environment." BMO rates Scotiabank "outperform." BMO targets the shares at $67. The average price target among analysts on Scotiabank is $65.18, according to Bloomberg. BMO also has "outperform" ratings on Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Toronto Dominion Bank and Canadian Western Bank. Mr. Mackinnon forecasts provisions for credit losses in the Canadian banking businesses to be $1.10-billion in the second quarter, higher than an unusually low $1-billion in the first quarter of 2013 but in line with the $1.15-billion a year.