The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, March 13, edition that even though Silvercrest Metals reported a significant adjusted earnings beat on Monday that sent its shares surging, Desjardins Securities analyst John Sclodnick downgraded the miner on valuation concerns. The Globe's Darcy Keith writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Sclodnick lowered his share target by 75 cents to $9.50 (all figures Canadian unless otherwise stated). Analysts on average target the shares at $9.14. Mr. Sclodnick says in a note: "We still view Silvercrest as a lower-risk name in the precious metals space but are downgrading to 'hold' on valuation after it jumped as much as 20 per cent during trading [Monday]. We also see Silvercrest lacking a meaningful near-term catalyst and expect cash generation to subside in the first half of the year on higher tax payments before free cash flow generation resumes in the second half of the year." According to the analyst's calculations, adjusted earnings per share was 26 U.S. cents, well ahead of the 11 U.S. cents consensus and his estimate of 17 U.S. cents. Mr. Sclodnick adds, "The beat was largely due to a tax recovery, which accounted for nine cents of the beat vs our estimate."