The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, May 7, edition that TD Cowen analyst Mario Mendonca downgraded his rating for iA Financial to "hold" from "buy" following its first quarter results, pointing to its valuation and seeing "better upside" in large-cap insurance companies. The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Mendonca gave his share target a $3 trim to $190. Analysts on average target the shares at $179.83. Mr. Mendonca says in a note: "Core EPS was lower than expected reflecting experience losses and slightly higher share count. Wealth management momentum (earnings/flows and RF deal) remains strong, while U.S. results were softer (experience losses were surprisingly high). ROE and capital flexibility remain solid. While this was a good quarter (raised dividend by 11 per cent), we expected iA Financial to easily beat estimates after delivering a very weak Q4/25 result." After the bell on Tuesday, iA Financial reported core earnings per share for the quarter of $3.25, up 12 per cent year-over-year but below the estimate of both Mr. Mendonca ($3.28) and the Street ($3.26). He adds" "Earnings quality was weak. Reported earnings were 54 per cent lower than core earnings."