Featured Research

AI beatings to continue until morale improves
After a few months of seemingly calm waters, concerns about the competitive threat posed by artificial intelligence (AI) have reignited for capital markets firms. Yet, our current view is that the AI-related fears will largely prove overblown for our coverage, where we believe firms generally enjoy moats around key businesses that we expect will persist. Furthermore, we think it’s one thing for AI to rapidly generate code and replicate software functionality, but it’s another task altogether to replicate the deep subject matter expertise, sales capabilities, customer service capabilities, network connectivity, trusted reputations, brands, regulatory trust, and other critical functionality.

Life & Health 2026 outlook
Picking the winners in a competitive environment - Annuity sales will likely remain robust in 2026 on good demographic and wealth trends. Small face amount life insurance policies should grow in 2026, as this attractive segment draws in new entrants. In group life and disability, leave management is a “make or break” priority for larger employers, as state leave requirements are complex and constantly in flux.

Structural reasons to be bullish on the Canadian banks through 2026
1Q26 was a strong quarter for the Canadian Big 6 banks, with all institutions outperforming consensus estimates. The broad-based outperformance was supported by elevated market-sensitive revenues; however, there are reasons to remain positive beyond a single quarter. Overall, the Canadian Big 6 are positioned for gradually expanding loan books, structurally supported margins, durable non-interest income contributions, and improving efficiency. 

The great wood reset
Six investable themes for 2026 - In our view, 2025 marked the trough of a four-year downturn in Forest Products. Sector equities are down roughly 25%–70%, and many names are trading at or near all-time-low valuations. The sector has been left for dead, but we think that’s exactly why alpha potential is rising. We see 2026 shaping up as a “reset” year, supported by low valuations, tightening supply, and several identifiable catalysts.

Infrastructure & construction
What’s in store for 2026? On balance, our Infrastructure & Construction stocks are entering 2026 with momentum, thanks to the big efforts management teams have expended to eliminate end-market concentration, reinforce balance sheets, and tailor service offerings that answer critical infrastructure needs. Having said that, we are of the view rising material costs, shifting investment priorities, digital disruption, elevated geopolitical tensions, and evolving tariffs all make for another volatile year.

2026 Outlook
Public and private pricing gap driving Canadian REIT sector consolidation - Despite the improved total return performance last year, Canadian REITs generally still trade at relative lower P/AFFO multiples versus average historical levels experienced in the last five years. In addition, many Canadian REIT/REOCs still trade at discounts to respective underlying real estate values. We believe the potential exists for further consolidation of the publicly-traded Canadian REIT sector in the next 12 to 24 months, which may further reduce the number of investable stocks within the broader Canadian REIT/REOC universe.

2026 Housing outlook
The U.S. housing market enters 2026 still deeply challenged by affordability pressures. Compounding this issue, many potential homebuyers have recently stepped back from the market due to lackluster job market conditions, tariff/inflation uncertainties, and deteriorating consumer confidence. As a result, many homebuilders are starting the year still looking to rationalize last year’s excess spec-home production.

Annual review of telecom, cable, data centers, content delivery networks (CDN), and contracted services
This report is intended to be a broad-based primer for the telecom, cable, data center, infrastructure construction, and CDN industries, which we believe make up an even more critical communications infrastructure, as the industries converge and demand for data-based products and services continues to accelerate. We have attempted to balance the report as a basic introduction into the technologies and networks involved for those new to the sector, while incorporating broader developments and trends that we see happening today and over the course of the year.