The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, Oct. 25, edition that Raymond James analyst Daryl Swetlishoff, ahead of the start of third quarter earnings season for forest product companies later this week, is "taking an increasingly conservative stance on the sector due to assumed heightened recessionary headwinds in the U.S. housing market." The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Swetlishoff has lowered his recommendation for West Fraser Timber to "outperform" from "strong buy." He swung an axe at his share target, cutting it back by $40 to $150. Analysts on average target the shares at $148.28. In a research report released Monday, Mr. Swetlishoff reduced his price assumptions for Western spruce-pine-fir and oriented strandboard due, in large part, to the declining fortunes of the U.S. housing industry. That led him to cut his forecast for both the quarter and the next fiscal year. Mr. Swetlishoff says, "When combined with higher assumed energy, logging and transportation inflation (partially offset by FX) our 2023 estimates fall by 25 per cent on average prompting us to reduce target prices across the board." He sees earnings dropping "a whopping 82 per cent on average relative to 2Q22."