Aecon Group Inc (ARE.TO)

Reported last night, fantastic numbers. Doubled backlog to over $10B. Successfully brought down number of riskier fixed-price contracts. Variable-price contracts has led to more sustainable cashflow, earnings, and revenue. 

Multiple's really come up, but its predictable cashflow warrants it. He's adding. Yield is 1.61%.

Engineering companies are performing really well. Benefiting from infrastructure investments, and soon from resource producers. Near-shoring is a positive.

He's cautious on markets right now. Definitely have this on your farm team. One of the best performers on the TSX right now, better than 86% of companies on the S&P over last year. RSI improving. Earnings estimates going higher.

Outlook is better. Cost overruns have pummeled them. New management has focused on contract pricing.

The chart broke out. It broke out twice in 2025. Is now making higher highs and higher lows. A pullback is possible, but won't sell it. Likes it still.

It was undervalued before and overvalued now. Likely to return to the low $30s. Legacy projects during the pandemic (input and labour costs) weighed on them and they took losses, but this is now over. Their growth projects are public, where demand keeps rising, and in nuclear. Plus, they have no deals in the US. They never cut their dividend. Happy to own this.

He suffered through this one too, finally seeing things come to fruition. He doesn't often recommend a stock that's breaking out, but this has so much going for it. Great nuclear franchise, targeted M&A in the States to expand in power and transmission, civil work needs to be done, fibre to the home, data centre buildout. 

Happy to hold at these levels, but perhaps add only a 1/2 position at these levels. Purchasing under $30 would be better.

Not as aggressively valued as engineering/construction, which came off a few weeks ago due to AI fears. Still upside here, as that trade rebalances. Yield is 2.44%.

Pulling back after a parabolic move. Took out the old high, and may be on the verge of finding support. Thinks it will hold, based on fundamentals. Likes the themes of power, engineering, infrastructure. Yield is 2.70%.

Doing better now with fee-for-service contracts, rather than legacy fixed-price ones. Takes volatility out of the earnings. Infrastructure spending is increasing dramatically in Canada and, particularly, in Ontario.

Lots going on in the construction and infrastructure space, and this name will benefit. Trades at significantly lower multiple to peers, but that multiple should slowly increase over time as they get rid of cost-overrun projects. It'll be just in time for large-scale infrastructure and nuclear (where Ontario's at the forefront globally) projects. 

Stars are aligning for a great few years on free cashflow, multiple growth, and investor interest. Yield is 3.10%.

Has been more volatile than usual. Plagued by legacy fixed-price contracts from pandemic era, but we're at the tail end of that. Now less than 1% of record backlog are legacy contracts. Stock price could go lower from here due to additional losses, but should recover quickly. 

Lots of growth in the utility space, nuclear refurbishment in Ontario. Recent US acquisitions great diversifiers. Yield is 3.02%.

Their last quarter boasted a record backlog. By end of this year, the legacy projects that have held them back will disappear. If there are a lot of expansion projects, ARE will certainly benefit and profits will rise in coming years. Pays a 3.3% dividend, not bad.

Over 12 months, Aecon could do better. It's more exposed to Canada, more revenues from Canada, whereas Atkins sees more global revenues. But 20% of Atkins' revenues come from nuclear which is booming. Atkins trades at a discount to peers. Aecon's backlog will expand a lot from Build Canada.

Owns a smaller position, as it tends to be high-torque. Smaller cap and cyclical, so we've seen volatility in the name. Company says it won't take on any more large, fixed-price contracts. Record backlog, much of it public sector (more stable than private). Fingers in almost every nuclear project in Canada. Likes its domestic exposure, where she can understand Canadian government and policies.

Yield of almost 4%, which wasn't cut even when things looked really bad during 2022.