The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, April 29, edition that Raymond James analyst Bryan Fast continues to rate North American Construction Group "outperform." The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Fast hiked his share target ahead by $4 to $30. Analysts on average target the shares at $27.40. Mr. Fast says in a note: "We remain convinced that NACG has a defensible business model given the fleet size, dominant position in the oil sands and more balanced end-market exposure. The company delivered another knockout quarter. [First quarter] results came in ahead of both our forecast and the Street consensus, exceeding the prior first quarter record by 40 per cent. This strength was driven by equipment utilization levels hitting multi-year highs. This has been a clear focus for the company after navigating headwinds related to technician availability and cost escalations in the first half of last year. Looking ahead, NACG is well positioned to take advantage of a robust project pipeline nearing $5-billion, which provides upside to an already constructive outlook and guide. With solid demand for the company's earth moving services, NACG can focus maintaining high utilization levels."