The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Aug. 6, edition that Desjardins Securities analyst Brent Stadler has elevated his recommendation for Fortis to "buy" from "hold." The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. Stadler jacked his share target up by $5 to $76. Analysts on average target the shares at $69.50. Seeing further earnings upside after better-than-anticipated second quarter results, Mr. Stadler says he continues to like the Fortis story, believing "its diversification provides exposure to a number of exciting energy themes, including transmission growth, load growth (including data centres) and the broader energy transition." Mr. Stadler says in a note: "We continue to believe Fortis is in a number of exciting and attractive markets that should lead to significant growth as we move further into the energy expansion era. Transmission opportunities at ITC, the load growth tailwind including data centres in Arizona, the potential to reduce regulatory lag in the region, and converting the 800MW Springerville coal to gas conversion to improve customer affordability and grid reliability by 2030 further shore up the capital plan. We expect Fortis to provide an update to its capital plan in the fall."