The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Feb. 8, edition that Raymond James analyst Brenna Phelan says the outlook for Home Capital Group is getting "tougher." The Globe's David Leeder writes that Ms. Phelan lowered her rating for to "market perform" from "outperform" ahead of the Feb. 22 release of its fourth quarter results. Ms. Phelan said the proposal for tougher rules governing deposits sourced on-line or from third party brokers from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions is a significant overhang for Home Capital shares in the near term. Ms. Phelan says in a note: "We upgraded Home Capital ... following the sell-off that followed Berkshire Hathaway's exit via the SIB, which took HCG shares to 0.5 times BVPS [book value per share] and was, in our view, overdone. Since then the shares have rallied, but more recently, consistently negative housing data coupled with a draft proposal by OSFI on tighter liquidity requirements have us moving back to the sidelines, with the belief that macro and regulatory risks, both real and perceived, will prevail sentiment-wise over at least the near-term." Ms. Phelan continues to target the shares at $18.50, which is 21 cents below the consensus.
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