CIBC Confirms Outperformer Rating on Quarterhill and Raises Its Price Target to C$2.50 on Q1 Results

CIBC Capital Markets maintained its outperformer rating on the shares of Quarterhill (QTRH.TO) and raised its price target to C$2.50 from C$2.00 after the company reported its first quarter financial results on Thursday.

"Into 2026, the setup is straightforward to a year that is inflecting: a ~$428.8MM backlog (+6% Q/Q) provides revenue coverage, the ~15% restructuring completed in 2025 (~100 roles) should lift margins, and a ~$2B bid pipeline can rebuild backlog/improve mix-with tighter bid discipline targeting cash-flow neutrality through implementation," said analyst Todd Coupland. "We raise our price target to C$2.50 (prior C$2.00) based on 10x 2027E EBITDA, earn-outs, and net cash."

The bank believes the company will continue to re-rate as the backlog converts, restructuring benefits flow through, and margins trend above about 10%. For 2026E, CIBC forecast about 9.9% revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA margins moving to about 6% or higher.

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Price: $1.76, Change: $+0.02, Percent Change: +1.15%

CIBC Lowers Canadian Tire's Price Target to C$190.00 From C$193.00

CIBC Capital Markets maintained its neutral rating on the shares of Canadian Tire (CTC-A.TO) and lowered its price target to C$190.00 from C$193.00 after the company reported its first-quarter results.Q1 results reflected "noisy comparisons and a persistently value-seeking consumer," said CIBC.CIBC is "increasingly cautious" on the consumer as 2026 evolves and has reduced its forecasts modestly.Q1 same-store sales (SSS) growth was below expectations across all banners, with unfavorable weather dynamics, particularly lapping a tailwind in 2025, said CIBC."Q2 is clearly also off to a slow start, but with roughly two-thirds of Q2 sales still to come, the die is not cast," said CIBC. "Management also added that in markets with more normal spring weather-only BC, sadly-sales growth is positive. Even still, we have heard from multiple consumer companies in the last two weeks-the Canadian consumer took a turn to be (even more) cautious in April, and we believe this will impact virtually all Canadian retailers."CIBC also noted that dealer inventory levels are likely a modest headwind. At end of Q1, dealer inventories were up 5% vs. last year, further noted CIBC and added that management noted that much of this was in winter seasonal categories and this will likely present a headwind to shipments (vs. sales) in H2."Dealers were also better stocked for spring/summer, so unless sales accelerate soon this could present risk to re-stocking order flow in Q2," said CIBC. "Net, we expect revenue growth will lag sales growth for the balance of 2026, which presents a headwind to earnings."Q1 margins showed good stability with multiple forces, including price investments at CTR, higher IT spend, favorable banner mix, and the flow-through of prior restructuring and cost-cutting work, stated CIBC."Higher energy costs have begun to work their way into the supply chain; they will take some time to emerge but will clearly be an incremental headwind to margins in H2," said CIBC. "Depending on how consumer demand evolves, we could see this as increasing risk to growth as the year develops.""Despite the headwind of a catch-up on opex spending" in 2025, CIBC believes CTFS has performed well and delivered healthy results again in Q1.Overall, CIBC views this as a well-run business with strong controls over financing and credit risk. However, CIBC noted that, the uncertainty on consumer credit is rising, with a weaker trajectory in Canadian employment as the number one risk factor. CIBC has made small adjustments to its forecasts, but noted that this would be an area of additional downside if conditions materially deteriorate from here."Though CTC is navigating the environment well and has developed strong defences to macro and competitive pressures, we believe it will be difficult to generate meaningful growth until the demand environment improves," added CIBC. "Our price target moves to $190 (with $3 from a higher REIT target) and our rating stays at Neutral."Price: $170.39, Change: $-4.56, Percent Change: -2.61%

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TSX Tumbles More Than 500 Points at Midday as Materials Weigh

The Toronto Stock Market tumbled more than 500 points at midday, with materials (-6.2%) the outsized decliner, weighed down by lower gold prices.Energy, up 1.3% is the best performer, boosted by rising oil prices as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed.In Canada, manufacturing sales hit their highest level since January 2025, rising 3.0% to $73.6 billion in March, StatsCan reported today. Sales rose in nine of the 21 subsectors, led by the petroleum and coal product (+22.7%) and transportation equipment (+6.0%) subsectors. Manufacturing sales rose in eight provinces in March with Ontario and Alberta posting the largest increases.Canadian housing starts came in at 279.3k annualized units in April, marking a 17% month-on-month increase from March's level.TD said April's starts bounce-back was larger than expected and suggests some upside risk to the bank's view on residential investment's contribution to GDP to begin in the second quarter. However, recent easing in building permits signals some near-term cooling for starts, it added."Despite April's uptick, housing starts are down so far this year compared to the end of 2025, on a six-month moving average basis. We think this trend will continue for the remainder of this year amid weak population growth, elevated unsold inventories, and past weakness in pre-sales in key markets. Activity next year could see some support from recent government actions to cut taxes on new homes," TD said.

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Atlas Salt to Raise $1.25 Million Via a Flow-Through Share Financing

Atlas Salt (SALT.V) on Friday said it will raise up to $1.25 million in a private placement of flow-through shares.The company said it will place 961,539 of the tax-advantaged shares priced at at $1.30 each.Proceeds raised from the sale of the FT shares will be used to incur eligible "Canadian exploration expenses" that will qualify as "flow-through mining expenditures" to advance exploration on the nepheline discovery at its Black Bay Property in Southern Labrador.Closing of the offering is expected to occur on or about May 20."Since the initial discovery of Nepheline Syenite at our Black Bay property, Atlas Salt has been eager to follow up on the early evaluation of this occurrence," said Chief Executive Nolan Peterson. "Shareholders should view this flow-through offering as a relatively low-cost opportunity to uncover value and subsequently potentially monetize a non-core asset."Shares of the company were last seen down $0.02 to $1.16 on the TSX Venture Exchange.Price: $1.17, Change: $-0.01, Percent Change: -0.85%

$SALT.V

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CIBC Lowers Canadian Tire's Price Target to C$190.00 From C$193.00

TSX Tumbles More Than 500 Points at Midday as Materials Weigh

Atlas Salt to Raise $1.25 Million Via a Flow-Through Share Financing