The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, April 18, edition that Scotia Capital analyst Michael Doumet has reaffirmed his "sector perform" recommendation for Russel Metals. The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Doumet lowered his share target to $48.50 from $50. Analysts on average target the shares at $49.28. Mr. Doumet says in a note: "[Tuesday], Russel Metals announced that it no longer expects to complete the transaction of seven service centres from Samuel, Son & Co. in 2Q24 as the Competition Bureau advised Russel it had concerns related to a 'narrow segment of product in a specific geography.' Instead, we assume the transaction closes in 4Q24. Moreover, given the recent softness in metal prices (plate, in particular), we trimmed our revenue/margin estimates for 1Q24 and, to a lesser extent, the balance of 2024; we expect the gradual normalization of plate prices to shave $10 to $20 from GPT in the 1H24 vs. 4Q23. While we believe investors may need to digest negative earning revisions, we believe Russel shares, at current levels, are attractively valued. Russel trades at a P/B of 1.4 times vs. historical of 1.7 times."