The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, April 1, edition that National Bank Financial analyst Endri Leno assumed coverage of CES Energy Solutions with an "outperform" recommendation. The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Leno set a share target of $4.50. Mr. Leno says in a note: "We view CEU's balance sheet as countercyclical in that the company invests a significant amount of working capital (financed with debt) during periods of high growth that is subsequently harvested (and debt reduces) when growth normalizes. As oil and gas activity recovered following the initial pandemic impact, CEU's net debt and leverage increased to accommodate the growth but, as industry activity stabilizes, have both crested in Q3/22 (at $560-million est.) and Q1/21 (at four times est.). We expect both net debt and leverage (net debt to TTM [trailing 12 months] Adj. EBITDA) to continue decreasing into 2024YE to $130-million (from $551-million in Q4/22) and to 0.4 times (from 2.1 times in Q4/22). Also, note that even on a total (current) debt basis CEU's leverage (total debt to TTM Adj. EBITDA) will tick down to 1.6 times at 2024YE (from 2.1 times at 2022Y)."