OTTAWA — Shares of Canadian National Railway Co. slipped yesterday after an analyst said rail stocks had hit their “post-recession” price targets, according to a report in the Globe and Mail.
James Valentine, an analyst with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., downgraded rail stocks including CN to “neutral” from “outperform,” saying they have hit his “post-recession” price targets.
“The railroads are currently trading at 14.4 times consensus 2002 estimates, and 12.2 times 2003 estimates, well above their historic range of 10 to 12 times forward earnings, and near their 15 times peak,” he said in a report yesterday.