01:51 PM EDT, 04/07/2025 (MT Newswires) -- National Bank has cut its estimates on Canadian banks in the wake of U.S. tariffs.

According to National Bank analyst Gabriel Dechaine, "Liberation Day" wasn't as bad as expected for the Canadian economy, but it wasn't an outright positive, either.

"With the macro backdrop dominated by uncertainty and volatility, we are cutting our forecasts (i.e., 2026 down by 7%) to reflect weaker credit performance, loan growth, and Wealth management results."

While the current market context isn't positive, Dechaine believes it is important to assess buying opportunities. From a valuation standpoint (e.g., forward P/E, dividend yield vs. bond yield spread) it is hard to argue that stocks are "unusually" attractive. Moreover, if the current situation mirrors historical precedents (e.g., early 90s recession, COVID), then we are still in the "early innings".

Bottom line -- Consensus forecasts need to be cut by at least 10% before we can argue that expectations have become sufficiently conservative.

Price: 125.53, Change: -1.51, Percent Change: -1.19