It was a busy earnings week in Canada with analysts revisiting price targets for some of the

S&P/TSX composite index

‘s heavy hitters. We’ve parsed the research notes in our inbox to to see where they think the stocks of companies including Shopify Inc., BCE Inc., Suncor Energy Inc., Manulife Financial Corp. and Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. are headed.

Stock of the week: Shopify Inc.

Analysts following

Shopify Inc.

(SHOP) supercharged their price targets for the shares after stellar earnings and an equally upbeat outlook juiced the e-commerce giant’s market cap, vaulting it over Royal Bank of Canada (RY) into top spot as the most-valuable company on the TSX. Todd Coupland, an analyst at CIBC Capital Markets hiked his price target for Shopify 25 per cent to $254 from $199 citing “large, expanding market opportunity” and the expectation that “Shopify’s growth will outpace the market.” BMO Capital Markets technology analyst Thanos Moschopoulos also raised his price target for Shopify to $247 from $167. “SHOP continues to execute well across its multiple growth vectors — with ongoing runway across each of these — while its merchant base has proven to be more resilient than expected,”  Moschopoulos said. Shares of the Ottawa-based company were trading around $205, up 25 per cent on the week.

Keeping score

‘Under-owned BCE’ gets a boost

Is

BCE Inc.

finally out of the doghouse? Analysts at Desjardins Securities seem to think it deserves to be, hiking their 12-month price target to $40.50 from $40 implying a 29.4 per cent return as the shares trade in the low-$30 range. BCE’s stock has been trending down over the last five years and the company recently faced intense investor criticism when it used funds from the sale of its share of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd. to purchase U.S. internet service provider Ziply, rather than to pay down debt. It was then forced to cut its 12 per cent dividend roughly in half. But, the Desjardins analysts are boosters of the U.S. purchase. “We expect more investors will soon run the math on Ziply, which could drive attention toward the under-owned BCE,” analysts Jerome Dubreuil and Laurent Fortier, said in a note after the telco reported second-quarter earnings. “We believe the improving wireless trends and the Ziply opportunity are not well-reflected in the stock,” they said.

Suncor: an RBC favourite

RBC Capital Markets analysts reconfirmed their “confidence” in

Suncor Energy Inc.

, (SU) as their “favourite” integrated oil company in Canada and reaffirmed their price target of $65 for the stock, which is currently trading around $54, following its latest earnings release. “The successful turnaround at Suncor over the past two years under the leadership of Rich Kruger is the quickest we have witnessed in over three decades,” RBC’s Greg Pardy, head of global energy research, said in a note, referring to a rough patch for the oil giant during which several accidents resulting in the deaths of workers put the company’s safety record in a harsh light. Pardy sourced the turnaround at Suncor to a change in mindset. “From where we sit, the next big leg of Suncor’s journey involves demonstration of its extensive resources and long-term production visibility,” he said.

Canadian Tire stock run-up hits a wall

Shares of

Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd.

(CTC/A) enjoyed a sweet run up in the first half of the year rising almost 19 per cent before a good chunk of that gain evaporated this week after results “slightly” missed consensus. Analysts Brian Morrison and Andrew Lopez at TD Securities Inc. cut their price target to $184 from $201. The stock is currently trading around the $159 mark having dropped nearly 14 per cent on the earnings. The earnings miss didn’t bother the analysts so much as the “elevated expenses associated with the True North strategy” — a four-year, $2-billion transformation strategy the retailer is undertaking. BMO analyst Tamy Chen also cut her price target for Canadian Tire to $175 from $191.

  • Shopify regains title as Canada’s most valuable company after stock soars 20%
  • Markets may have stabilized but as you enjoy the ride don’t lose sight of the risks

A chance to jump in on Manulife

Shares of

Manulife Financial Corp.

(MFC) fell nearly four per cent after it released its earnings this week but analysts at Scotabank Capital Markets think that provides a nice opening for investors. “We reiterate our sector outperform rating and believe that investors with a longer-term view will benefit by buying into the weakness,” Mike Rizvanovic and Felix Fang said in a note, pointing to their “favourable view on the lifeco’s higher-growth Asia and GWAM (global wealth and asset management) segments.” The Scotiabank pair cut their price target for the shares to $45 from $47. Shares of Manulife are currently trading around $41 and are down six per cent year to date.

• Email: gmvsuhanic@postmedia.com