Why TSX-listed Aecon Group Inc. has caught the eye of investors and how Netflix’s tough week on the markets could play out. Plus, Scotiabank Capital Markets analysts share their top pick for 2026. And does this gold producer merit a 36 per cent price target increase?
The Financial Post explores those stories and more in The Week in Stocks.

Stock of the week: Aecon Group Inc.

Investors powered

Aecon Group Inc.

(TSX:ARE) to a 12 per cent gain on Friday and nearly 15 per cent on the week after the construction and infrastructure company said it and two other partners had been chosen to design and build the first four of 12 planned small modular nuclear reactors in Washington state. The shares rose to their highest level since January. They are up six per cent on the year but have risen nearly 90 per cent from the depth’s of United States President Donald Trump’s Liberation Day market shock. Michael Tupholme, an analyst at TD Cowen, said the contract could represent the start of more opportunities for the company in the U.S. nuclear space. Aecon was trading at the $28 level, above TD’s price target of $23. CIBC Capital Markets boosted its price target for Aecon in early October to $29 from $24, while Raymond James lifted its outlook for the shares Oct. 21 to $26 from $21.

Keeping score

Blue Jays a win for Rogers

George Springer’s home run, which propelled the Toronto Blue Jays into the World Series, could also prove a winner for shareholders of Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX:RCI/B), the owner of the Jays. Excitement about the team heading back to the World Series for the first time since 1993 should add nicely to Rogers’s fourth quarter, analysts say, and is icing on the cake of the company’s investment in sports team ownership and broadcasting rights. The World Series dovetails with the start of the National Hockey League and National Basketball Association seasons, helping to offset a tougher outlook in the wireless network sector, analysts say. “Sports has emerged as a central theme for RCI in recent months, as investors look to future monetization events, amid expectations that RCI will buy Kilmer Group’s 25 per cent stake in MLSE (Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment) by next July,” Jerome Dubreuil, a Desjardins analyst, said in a note. Desjardins is hiking its price target for Rogers to $56 from $53. Shares are currently trading at the $54 level and are up 22 per cent this year. TD Cowen analyst Vince Valentini raised his price target for Rogers to $64 from $62 with Rogers a “top pick.” Valentini said the pricing war between Canada’s telcos is winding down but that Black Friday deals will show where wireless pricing is headed. He also said he expects the Blue Jays’s worth to be upgraded when the next round of sports team valuations are released in March 2026.

Netflix has a tough week

It was no all-star week for

Netflix Inc.

(NYSE:NFLX) after the company reported that it was embroiled in tax troubles with the government of Brazil. That landed shares of Netflix among the Top 10 losers on the S&P 500 index for a spell. So where does that leave the shares of the streaming giant, which are up 23 per cent this year? BMO Capital Markets analyst Brian Pitz stuck with his price target of US$1,425. Shares were trading just under the US$1,100 level and are down nearly 12 per cent this week. Pitz, however, likes Netflix, despite the US$619 million tax bill, because of

a “robust upcoming programming slate

” and the outlook for ad revenue to double this year and next.

The company behind the TSX is a top pick

The S&P/TSX composite index has run up a stellar 23 per cent his year. Still, that hasn’t lifted all boats, said analysts at Scotiabank Capital Markets, who contend that the current market’s focus on value cyclical stocks has left some companies out of the current bull run. This will create some buying opportunities that will play out next year, they said. “We view the weakness across several ‘quality compounders’ (stocks with a low valuation and the possibility of gains propelled by earnings, book value, net asset value growth and dividends) as a buying opportunity and are adopting more of a growth bias as we head into 2026,” analysts Phil Hardie and Rhave Shah said in a note, where they shared their best ideas for the year ahead. The duo’s top pick for 2026 is TMX Group Ltd. (TSX:X), the company that operates the TSX. The business boasts income from a variety of sources and has strong cash flow and attractive growth prospects, they said. Hardie and Shah are forecasting for TMX to potentially gain about 45 per cent in 2026. They have a price target on TMX of $70, placing them at the top of the range of analyst price targets. The next closest is RBC Capital Market with a 12-month price target of $66. TMX shares are currently trading at the $50 level.

We’re just drinking less beer

Molson Coors Beverage Co.

‘s (NYSE:TAP) move to cut nearly nine per cent of its salaried staff across the Americas, including in Canada, looks more like a big head of foam, than a substantive move to address what is really ailing the company, analysts say: the falling consumption of beer. “Molson Coors has become a market share ‘donor’ in the U.S. beer category with accelerating structural headwinds,” a TD Cowen team of analysts said in a note. In addition to declining consumption of beer and other alcoholic products,” Molson is losing ground to cannabis products and the usage of medications to help with obesity, the note said. Molson’s volumes are down 23 per cent since 2019. The TD team held its price target at US$47. Shares of the beermaker are trading at the US$45 level and are down nearly 20 per cent this year.

Defence is in demand, Rosenberg says

European defence stocks are on the radar of David Rosenberg, president of Rosenberg Research and Associates Inc. “European defence stocks have outpaced American tech stocks this year, even with the AI hype,” Rosenberg said in a note, as the continent and the United Kingdom have pledged to march to a new drummer on defence spending. Rosenberg said the best bets for significantly increased defence spending lie with the U.K. and Germany. “We expect to see major increases in the years ahead,” Rosenberg said, adding that the changing nature of warfare, including the use of drones and other communications-related technologies, are attracting more investing demand. The Stoxx Europe Total Market Aerospace and Defence index is up 64 per cent this year.

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Price target upgrades and downgrades

  • BMO Capital Markets hiked its price target for Standard Lithium Ltd. (TSX:SLI) to $6.50 from $5.25 on the belief that recent moves by the U.S. government to invest in the critical mineral sector will continue. Standard Lithium is trading around the $5.80 level.
  • BMO also raised StorageVault Canada Inc.’s (TSX:SVI) price to $6 from $5.50 on “solid” third quarter earnings that beat the outlook for the Ontario-based company. CIBC also hiked it price target for StorageVault to $5.50 from $4.75. It is trading around the $5.00 level.
  • CIBC Capital Markets hiked its price target for Torex Gold Resources Inc. (TSX:TXG) a massive 36 per cent to $90 from $66 on the completion of its purchase of Prime Mining Corp. and on an increase to CIBC’s forecast for gold and silver prices to average US$4,500 and US$55 per ounce, respectively, for 2026 and 2027. Torex is trading at the $60 level.
  • Here’s another price hike for a lithium company, this time from National Bank of Canada, whose analyst raised his price for Lithium Royalty Corp. (TSX:LIRC) to $8.00 from $7.00, on expected earnings improvements based on contributions from two mines in Brazil and Argentina. Shares are trading at the $6.85 level.
  • RBC Capital Markets raised its price target for Precision Drilling Corp. (TSX:PD) to $117 from $110 on an increase in capital spending, debt reduction and share repurchases. Precision shares were trading near the $85 level.
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Every week, the Financial Post breaks down the most interesting developments in the week’s world of investing, from top performers to surprising analyst calls and stocks to have on your radar.

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