The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, April 11, edition that Bank of America Securities analyst Ken Hoexter upgraded Canadian National Railway to "buy" from "neutral" on Wednesday, seeing volumes trending "slightly" ahead his expectations, the grain crop "not as bad as originally feared" and believing it "appears on track to achieve its near-term double-digit earnings growth objective." The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Hoexter gave his share target a $5 boost to $145 (all figures U.S.). Analysts on average target the shares at $136.14. Mr. Hoexter says in a note: "Rail carloads ended 1Q24 up 1 per cent year-year, up for the second consecutive quarter. Carloads have been positive for 10 consecutive weeks and have been positive for 17 of the past 21 weeks. In 1Q24, Class I railroads lapped impacts from the Feb 13, 2023, East Palestine, Ohio derailment. In addition to track outages and service delays, the derailment sparked a wave of increased regulatory focus and has served to intensify Class I efforts to improve service and safety. Rail volumes were also aided by an additional Leap Year operating day, which we estimate added 1 percentage point to volume growth."