Robert McWhirter AtkinsRealis Group ATRL-TO TOP PICK Jul 07, 2025

Sold recently on the great run. New CEO has done a good job cleaning up past scandals. Good price on recent sale of stake in Hwy 407. Benefits from nuclear buildout. Not super-expensive, but not cheap.

Still owns, but lightened up recently. Huge move on engineering for global nuclear expansion. Good story, but big run.

The nuclear space is much needed and this is their area of expertise. Buy in chunks.

Trades close to WSP multiple of ~40x PE. That's one of the reasons she doesn't own it. Likes exposure to nuclear and to the public sector. Doesn't like dividend yield of less than 1%. International exposure brings risk.

She'd prefer to own (and does) ARE, with a higher dividend and more reasonable valuation.

Is still growth ahead. Good that they sold the 407 ETR to pay down their debt. Are a pure engineering company, no longer saddled with fixed contracts they'd have to pay for cost overruns on projects. Margins have risen. Are well positioned for new demand for nuclear energy. Is no longer trading at discount to peers, but growth will continue.

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.

Has come back a lot from its SNC Lavalin days. Recent talk of them moving into nuclear was a boost. Are shifting money from share buybacks to more M&A is a sign of them seeing opportunity. They've had a good rally. The price now vs. future growth looks all right, okay.

Wait for a pullback, as optimism of whole world on uranium is at fever pitch right now (but for very good reason). Need uranium and nuclear to be part of the power solution. Proxy for uranium market (illiquid and opaque), and spot uranium prices are very strong.

Today he's trying to choose beneficiaries of big themes, and Carney's national projects are a big theme. This name is on fire. Beat last quarter by 3% in engineering services, 20% in nuclear. Margins improving. Involved in Darlington in Ontario, one of the favoured "major projects". 

Mission is to meet demand for low-carbon energy, build resilience to climate change, and repair aging infrastructure. Balance sheet in terrific shape. Reasonable 20x PE for 37% visible growth. Yield is 0.08%.