The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that National Bank analyst Maxim Sytchev has reaffirmed his "outperform" recommendation for SNC-Lavalin Group. The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. Sytchev nudged his share target ahead by $7 to $46. Analysts on average target the shares at $44.92. After a "no negative surprises" second quarter, Mr. Sytchev believes SNC is "progressing in the right direction." Mr. Sytchev says in a note: "Investment thesis can change materially for the 'last bad quarter' or 'the first good quarter' (we have seen a similar inflection point with GE in the U.S. recently). The only thing(s) missing for the structural rerate is consistent FCF generation (company reiterated positive OCF in H2/23E) and exit from Linxon. With pure engineering consulting valuations into a historically premium territory, we feel investors are itching for a switch into SNC, even though as we have stated in the past, some margin conversion needs to happen for the company's engineering valuation to rerate. M&A commentary to become Top 10 in the U.S. from current Top 20 will need careful consideration once we get there as M&A has not been company's forte (this is a new management team, of course)."