The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, May 8, edition that National Bank's Vishal Shreedhar lowered his Alimentation Couche-Tard share target to $81 from $86 with an unchanged "outperform" recommendation. The Globe's David Leeder writes that analysts on average target the shares at $84.07. Mr. Shreedhar says in a note: "Currently, key issues for Alimentation Couche-Tard are that its merchandising approach is not delivering growth that investors have become accustomed to, the company is not repurchasing shares, meaningful management time is consumed with the Seven & I file and there continues to be an overhang related to an equity issuance from a possible Seven & I deal. We anticipate these issues to resolve over the near term. We model NTM [next 12-month] EPS growth of 12.3 per cent year-over-year." The Globe reported on Jan. 9 that Mr. Shreedhar had upgraded Couche-Tard to "outperform" from "sector perform." It was then worth $77.79. The Globe reported on Feb. 12 that Desjardins Securities analyst Chris Li continued to rate Couche-Tard "hold." The shares could then be had for $72.49. The Globe reported on Feb. 26 that CIBC had reaffirmed its "outperformer" rating for Couche-Tard. It was then worth $71.98.