The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, Feb. 15, edition that CIBC World Markets analyst Paul Holden, ahead of the start of first quarter earnings season for Canadian banks later this month, made a series of target price adjustments. The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. Holden says in a note: "Earnings are expected to face downward pressures in the first half of F2024 and the timing of a potential turnaround won't take place until the back half of the year or perhaps F2025 once more dovish central bank policy starts to take hold. Key themes this quarter are funding costs, credit risk, regulatory capital and expense management. In terms of credit risk, the spotlight will be most focused on commercial real estate (CRE) where we expect lower appraisal values will drive a need for higher credit provisioning. Management teams at the banks are expecting credit provisioning to peak this year, and we will be looking for clues to timing of this occurrence; our current expectation is for this to take place in FQ2." Accordingly, Mr. Holden boosted his share target for Royal Bank of Canada to $141 from $128. Analysts on average target the shares at $139.58. Mr. Holden continues to rate the shares "neutral."