The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, May 10, edition that Leede Jones Gable analyst Douglas Loe has upgraded Medical Facilities to "buy" from "hold." The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Loe gave his share target a $5 boost to $15. Analysts on average target the shares at $14. Mr. Loe says in a note: "South Dakota-based specialty surgical hospital operator Medical Facilities reported FQ124 financial data for the March-end period that were predictably soft by comparison to seasonally strong FQ423 data, but were solidly above our expectations on virtually all metrics by the standards of historic Q1 performance and we are upgrading Medical Facilities to 'buy' from a 'hold' as a consequence. A newly announced upward shift in dividend payout, beginning with the current quarter, reinforces our investment thesis and annual return implied in our revised price target. ... Most surgical hospitals in Medical Facilities network experience surgical revenue growth, driven in most cases by higher acuity cases and higher procedural volumes in the quarter. ... The firm can clearly support further augmentation of quarterly dividend at its discretion based solely on existing operations."