This Mag 7 stock jumped 10% after reporting earnings and BMO analyst sees ‘green shoots’ from vast AI spending 

Silver and gold drop on Trump’s Fed pick, Raymond James update their Canadian energy company picks and more from The Week in Stocks.

Stock of the week: Meta Platforms Inc.

Meta Platforms Inc.

(META:Nasdaq) found favour with investors this week after it reported a jump in ad revenue and issued a strong forecast for the next period that went some way to convincing investors that the company’s mega-investments and capital expenditures in

artificial intelligence

are paying off. Shares of Meta jumped 10 per cent following the release of earnings on Jan. 29 and were up about seven per cent on the week though they relinquished some of those gains on Friday. Meta fell out of favour late last year as investors questioned the company’s AI spending spree, estimated at US$72 billion for 2025. From October to late November, shares of Meta fell nearly 22 per cent. BMO Capital Markets analyst Brian Pitz hiked his price target for Meta to US$730 from US$710 noting a “strong” fourth quarter result as revenue and operating income beat consensus by 2.5 per cent and 2.9 per cent, respectively. For the first quarter of 2026, Meta said it expects revenue to come in seven per cent above consensus. “Importantly, META is seeing green shoots from its massive AI investments (US$132 billion in 2026 capital expenditure), which are improving its recommendation models, leading to increased user engagement and monetization,” Pitz said. The 12-month price target for Mega based on 67 analysts is US$852.16, according to Bloomberg. Meta closed at US$716.50.

Keeping score

What does the drop in gold and silver have to do with Trump’s Fed pick?

Gold

and

silver

plummeted Friday with bullion falling nearly 10 per cent to take it below US$5,000 an ounce and silver nosediving 26 per cent as the so-called debasement trade unwound. This is where investors hedge against currencies losing value with assets such as precious metals. The moves came after

Donald Trump

named

Kevin Warsh

as his pick to replace Jerome Powell as chair of the United States Federal Reserve. “The market reaction so far points to … independence fears regarding the Fed easing,” David Rosenberg, chief executive of Rosenberg Research & Associates Inc., said in a note on Friday. Markets had feared Trump would name a successor who would act in lockstep with his desire for more rate cuts, jeopardizing the Fed’s independence, which is a cornerstone of stock market activity. However, several notes on Warsh’s nomination described him as hawkish, which could make him more resistant to slashing interest rates. The U.S. dollar rebounded. Still, Rosenberg doesn’t think the fundamentals behind the price increases in gold and silver have changed that much. “The core issue is rising worries about fragmentation in the global market: the U.S. and China appear to be warehousing inventories rather than letting metal flow through global exchanges, stoking anxiety and speculative positioning.”

Raymond James’s best picks as Canada’s energy companies start to report Q4 earnings

Analysts at Raymond James Global Research updated their outlooks for the Canadian oil and gas companies based on revised commodity prices. The team of Michael Barth, Luke Davis, Justin Jenkins, Luke Konschuch and Brett Keller lowered their prices targets for West Texas Intermediate and Western Canadian Select by eight and 10 per cent for the fourth quarter of 2025, “which is a big driver of negative estimate revisions for producers this quarter,” the analysts said. Their “pecking order” for shares remained the same, with

Cenovus Energy Inc.

(CVE:TSX) their top pick followed by

Suncor Energy Inc.

(SU:TSX),

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.

(CNQ:TSX).

Imperial Oil Ltd.

brought up the rear. “While we like CVE best longer term, we do note that SU has the most exciting story du jour, with a positive rate of change in the in situ business heading into the March Investor Day,” they said. Raymond James has a price target of $30 on Cenovus and a strong buy rating but expects most of the year to be more about the company digesting MEG Energy after its takeover. Cenvous closed Friday at $26.87. The team has a price target of $73 on Suncor and $53 on Canadian Natural on volume performance for the former and whether that results in lower unit costs and capital allocation for the latter. Shares closed Friday at $71.97 and $50.63, respectively. Raymond James has an underperform rating on Imperial and a price target of $106 with the analysts viewing the stock as “relatively expensive.” The stock closed Friday at $137.57.

Price target hikes and cuts

• TD Cowen analyst Brian Morrison cut his price target for Spin Master Corp. (TOY:TSX) to $26 from $30 as “economic headwinds” continued to weigh on consumer demand in North America, especially during the holiday season. Spin Master closed at $18.61.
• RBC Capital Markets analyst Josh Wolfson maintained his price target of $19 for Centerra Gold Ltd. following an explosion at its Langeloth metallurgical facilities near Pittsburgh, which shut down operations. Wolfson described the impact to the shares as “slightly negative” and estimated a corporate hit to EBITDA of three per cent for every quarter of downtime at the facility. Shares closed Friday at $22.81.
• BMO Capital Markets analyst Matthew Murphy raised his price target for Barrick Mining Corp. (ABX:TSX) to $80 from $63, meanwhile JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst Bennett Moore initiated coverage of the shares with a price target of $92 and an overweight recommendation. Barrick closed Friday at $62.24.
• National Bank of Canada Capital Markets analyst Shane Nagle hiked his price target for Hudbay Minerals Inc. (HBM:TSX) to $40 from $28 on a study related to the miner’s Copper World project in Arizona, which should “serve as a significant catalyst later in 2026 outlining longer-term copper growth pipeline.” Hudbay closed Friday at $32.25.
• CIBC Capital Markets analyst Erin Kyle hiked her price target for real estate services company Information Services Corp. (ISC:TSX)  to $49 from $37 after the company received four non-binding takeover offers. Shares closed Friday at $43.60.

• This TSX gold and silver play was up 122% in 2025 and is surging again in January
• TSX stock EQB jumps as BMO analyst hikes target, upgrades shares on PC Financial deal

• Email: gmvsuhanic@postmedia.com