The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, April 4, edition that CIBC World Markets analyst Paul Holden thinks a "defence over offence" strategy for investing in North American banks continues to make sense, but he says his preference for U.S. over Canada has ended. The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Holden downgraded his recommendation for Bank of Montreal to "neutral" from "outperformer." Mr. Holden cut his share target by $11 to $141. Analysts on average target the shares at $153.80. Mr. Holden says in a note: "Bank of Montreal generates the highest proportion of earnings from the U.S. (approximately 45 per cent) among the Canadian banks. We no longer view that as an advantage, at least not in the near term. Bank of Montreal generates a higher proportion of revenue from NII than Royal Bank does and also has more earnings sensitivity to PCLs. The P/E multiple is at the higher end of the range for the group, implying that there is additional valuation risk as forward expectations shift to a less positive economic outlook." The Globe reported on March 6 that Mr. Holden continued to rate Bank of Montreal "outperfomer." It was then worth $142.60.