The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Oct. 18, edition that National Bank Financial analyst Gabriel Dechaine has lowered his recommendation for Laurentian Bank of Canada to "underperform" from "sector perform." The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Dechaine knocked his share target back by $5 to $27. Analysts on average target the shares at $35.45. The Globe says Mr. Dechaine sees operational and leadership issues at the bank raising the risk of more credit downgrades. Mr. Dechaine says in a note: "To recap, LB's unsuccessful strategic review was followed by the departure of the bank's CEO and Board Chair on Oct. 2. The departures also followed an IT outage on Sept. 24 that led to customers being unable to access their funds or perform certain on-line transactions. In the wake of these disruptive events, credit rating agencies have taken notice. On Oct. 12, S&P revised its rating outlook on LB to 'negative' from 'stable,' while reaffirming the bank's overall credit rating at BBB (one notch above speculative grade). The agency cited LB's recent operational issues and executive turnover as potential risks to executing its long-term strategy."