WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
Stocks with the most bearish expectations.
MORE ABOUT TODAY'S SCREEN
In today's screen, we'll look at stocks with bearish analyst price targets. We'll look for Canadian stocks that are rated "hold," "sell" or "strong sell," according to Thomson ONE, an institutional portfolio management tool. We'll look for stocks with market capitalizations above $500-million and sort them by the most bearish median price targets compared to current stock prices.
WHAT DID WE FIND OUT?
We found 18 stocks that have median target prices that are below the current stock prices or less than five per cent above the current stock price.
Westport Innovations comes out with a median price target that is furthest below the current stock price. Any analyst that has been bearish Westport over the past year has had a hard time as it is up more than 200 per cent. Certainly not all analysts are bearish on the stock, but National Bank analyst Rupert Merer is one of them. In a March report, he downgraded the stock to "underperform" from "sector perform," as he raised his target to $13 from $12.
The company, which makes low-emissions engines and fuel systems, had announced more sales, but Mr. Rupert believed the stock was overvalued.
"We believe that Westport is very well positioned for high growth over the coming years and could benefit from climate and energy legislation being contemplated in the U.S.," the analyst said in a report. "However, with the stock trading above our $13 target... we believe that growth is baked in."