The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, April 9, edition that ATB Capital analyst Waqar Syed has reaffirmed his "outperform" recommendation for Step Energy Services. The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Syed, however, trimmed his share target by 50 cents to $6.50. Analysts on average target the shares at $5.84. Mr. Syed says in a note: "Step Energy Services is seeing high spot market pressure in its U.S. pumping business, and as a result, we lower our EBITDA forecast by 8 per cent for 2024 and by 3 per cent for 2025. ... Considering investor positioning, Q1/24 results and forward guidance versus consensus, FCF generation, valuation and the underlying theme of an improving U.S. medium term outlook, we recommend HAL-N, PUMP-N, PD-T and BKR-N. We believe that consensus estimates for both HAL-N and PUMP-N are safe, and they should generate solid FCF, and their investor positioning is not too bullish." The Globe reported on Jan. 5, 2023, that Mr. Syed and Mr. Monachello continued to rate Step Energy "outperform." The shares could then be had for $5. The Globe reported on Aug. 4, 2023, that RBC rated Step Energy "outperform." The shares were then worth $4.09.