The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Jan. 8, edition that National Bank Financial analyst Patrick Kenny has reaffirmed his "outperform" recommendation and $65 share target for Capital Power. The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that analysts on average target the shares at $62.91. Mr. Kenny expects utility companies to benefit from the rising demand for affordable and reliable energy, but macroeconomic pressures will pose significant challenges. Mr. Kenny says in a note: "With affordability pressures and grid instability concerns top of mind, we believe the path of least resistance for the Big Data Buildout will be through 'off-grid, behind-the-metre' developers focused on natural gas-fired generation. Coupled with rising demand for natural gas pipeline connections and storage capacity, we see attractive growth prospects and further valuation upside potential for energy infrastructure companies with material exposure to the data centre growth theme in 2025." Mr. Kenny warns that both interest rate uncertainty and the impact of inflation will remain troublesome, while the fallout from a weaker Canadian dollar will also be felt.