The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Feb. 23, edition that Scotia Capital analyst George Doumet continues to rate Maple Leaf Foods "sector outperform." The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Doumet cut to his share target to $33.50 from $37.50. Analysts on average target the shares at $32.25. Mr. Doumet says in a note: "Q4 results missed Street/our expectations by 6 per cent/11 per cent. More importantly, the significant margin ramp that we were expecting in 1H/24 has now moved to the right by a few quarters (we are looking for a 2024 exit rate that is more in line with our initial Q1 margin estimate). Attaining the lower end of MFI's 14-per-cent to 16-per-cent EBITDA margin target has now become significantly more reliant on improvements in both the commodity markets and consumer trade-down dynamics. Net-net we have lowered our 2024 and 2025 estimates by 15 per cent and 9 per cent. Maple Leaf has the elements of a healthy deleveraging story -- with a step up in EBITDA expected in 2024/2025, in addition, to improved FCF. While we argue that visibility has somewhat deteriorated, shares appear cheap, trading at 7.5 times EV/2025E or an 8-per-cent FCF yield."