Stockchase Opinions

Stockchase Insights Celestica Inc CLS-T PARTIAL BUY Jan 31, 2025

Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research

CLS traded at a forward P/E of below 10X for years until 2023 when its AI segment began generating significant growth. Its forward P/E has climbed to 24X, and for a company with steady margins and expecting to grow earnings in the 20%+ range for the next couple of years, we believe a forward P/E in the range of 20X to 25X makes sense. A 30X forward multiple could be justified if management guides for higher growth rates and it can execute on expanding its profit margins. Much of this also depends on the sustainability of the AI story and if we eventually witness a CAPEX down cycle for data centers and chips. Overall, we continue to like the name here.
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$179.430

Stock price when the opinion was issued

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WATCH

He's taking a look. Its business will have steady demand. Many companies absolutely depend on it, and that's the advantage.

COMMENT

Canadian manufacturing company that will benefit from AI revolution.

PARTIAL BUY
Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research

Its volume traded has picked up over the past couple of years as its stock has performed well, but per our rough math on a weekly basis it has been trading about 4% of its total outstanding shares. 

CLS has about 116M shares outstanding, and the average daily volume in 2025 is about 1M shares. On a 5-day week, that means roughly 5M shares trade out of 116M total outstanding. It is pretty liquid at a $13.5B market cap, and while it has declined significantly alongside the broader market, we continue to like the name.
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WAIT

Good company. Benefited from a lot of things that may change, like sentiment on AI. He'd wait to see whether its expenditures come off from the big companies, which could prompt more volatility.

PARTIAL BUY
Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research

CLS did raise guidance a little bit, but the stock declined about 4% after the news release. Analysts had expected more of a material raise in guidance. Still, the quarter was good, and the stock is cheap at 19X earnings. We would be comfortable on the buy side here still.
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PARTIAL BUY

Not in his fund, but in separately managed accounts. Fantastic job on the supply side. 12-month price target of $199. If you own it, hold on. Add around $148, and another 1/3 around $140.

DON'T BUY

A darling. The story remind him of Dell, which assembles technology from other companies in a product for you to use. This raises questions of pricing power and technological differentiation. He has similar questions about CLS. As well, electronic manufacturing companies generally don't have great operating margins; a digestion phase in the markets would be a challenge for them.

Be cautious of names that get attached to the AI bandwagon. News like DeepSeek can also compress the multiples of the AI derivative plays.

HOLD

This area of the market has seen massive demand, largely driven by AI and the buildout of data centres. Outlook is quite strong. Valuation quite reasonable. Very well run. Future isn't as certain within the semi sector. His preference is TSM or NVDA.

BUY
CLS vs. CSU

Looks good. He'd pick CLS, as it's in a nice upward trend. More potential upside.

BUY ON WEAKNESS

The chart says the old high has been taken out. Good. The rebound in the last two months was a big move, parabolic. But count on a short-term pullback, as long as it doesn't break below the old high of $180. This is very good.