The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Nov. 29, edition that Scotia Capital analyst Jason Bouvier has lowered his recommendation for MEG Energy to "sector perform" from "sector outperform" after the release of its 2024 production guidance and a capital budget that fell short of expectations on the Street. The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. Bouvier has an unchanged share target of $27. Analysts on average target MEG Energy shares at $30.92. MEG announced capital guidance of $550-million, narrowly above the consensus forecast of $538-million. That includes $450-million for maintenance and $100-million aimed at supporting "multiyear capacity growth." Mr. Bouvier says in a note: "Given the strong outperformance of MEG shares over the past year and a modestly higher spending profile over the next couple of years, we believe the valuation is more in line with other producers (and MEG's CF will take another step change down when it becomes cash taxable in 2027 vs its oil sands peers that are already cash taxable). As such, we are downgrading the company." The Globe reported on May 24 that Mr. Bouvier had boosted MEG Energy to "sector outperform" from "sector perform." The shares were then worth $21.38.