The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, April 10, edition that Scotia Capital analyst John Zamparo is "expecting a pause" from Canadian grocers in the first quarter, leading him to downgrade the three stocks in the sector. The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. Zamparo moved Empire, Loblaw and Metro to "sector perform" from "sector outperform," while he kept his share targets of $52, $70 and $103. Analysts on average target Empire, Loblaw and Metro shares at $52.50, $71.13 and $105.50. Mr. Zamparo says in a note: "We believe near-term risks skew to the downside for the grocers, a product of medium-and-short-term outperformance, lower expected core earnings growth this year and recent results that missed on key metrics, which could signal the more competitive environment we have been expecting. We consider these solid, stable businesses that offer low volatility and predictable growth, and they will be foundational to many investors' portfolios. However, we see an absence of near-term catalysts and we prefer to be adding at lower valuations, as our returns to target are all less than 8 per cent." Mr. Zamparo says the results from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 displayed "some signs of tougher times."