Gigi Suhanic
7 min read
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.
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.
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.
