The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that National Bank Financial analyst Zachary Evershed has reaffirmed his "sector perform" recommendation for Cascades. The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. Evershed boosted his share target by a loonie to $14.50. Analysts on average target the shares at $14.30. The Globe says Mr. Evershed sees Cascades making "good progress" on the ramp-up of its Bear Island facility. Mr. Evershed says in a note: "As expected, the Bear Island tour drove home the high quality of the asset itself, with a basis weight production sweet spot around 18 pounds aligning production with the lightweight containerboard in high demand in the fastest growing markets such as e-commerce. The machine's speed has already been largely ramped up as output on good days is punching above 1,100 tons (1,300 tons per day rated capacity) and the focus now is on improving consistency, to reduce the number of bad days. After the kinks have been worked out, the quality of Bear Island's fibre mix can then be downshifted to lower grades of OCC and up to 60-per-cent mixed paper at a substantial cost savings." He adds, however, that the current operating environment "clouds" the near-term outlook for Cascades.