The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, April 30, edition that RBC Dominion Securities analyst Greg Pardy has lowered his recommendation for Enerplus to "sector perform" from "outperform." The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. Pardy issued his downgrade after updating his forecast to reflect Enerplus's pending $11-billion (U.S.) stock-and-cash deal to combine with Chord Energy, previously, seeing the potential for higher returns elsewhere (all figures U.S.). Mr. Pardy raised his share target by a buck to $22. Analysts on average target the shares at $21.34. Mr. Pardy says in a note: "The announced $11-billion stock and cash merger will create the largest Williston basin producer with enhanced scale and a bolstered inventory position. The deal makes strategic sense to us given that we had pegged Chord as Enerplus's closest comparable within the Bakken, which points toward operational and overhead synergies. ... Chord will apply conservative well spacing and transition to three-mile laterals on more than 40 per cent of its pro-forma inventory, which should drive productivity gains and greater returns. The combined entity will have more than 1,800 drilling locations (at sub-$60 WTI) in the Williston basin."