Daily roundup of research and analysis from The Globe and Mail’s market strategist Scott Barlow
TKsubhed
Scotiabank analyst Robert Hope upgraded Enbridge (ENB-T) to outperform as the outlook brightens for midstream energy,
“OUR TAKE: Positive. We introduce our 2028 estimates for our North American pipeline and midstream coverage, roll forward our target valuation to 2028, and provide perspectives on our outlook/valuations for the space. We forecast a 2026-2028 EBITDA CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 5 per cent-6 per cent for the North American pipeline group, which we view as attractive. Tailwinds from strong power demand and LNG exports are driving increased opportunities to put capital to work and improve returns from existing assets. Given these factors, we believe there is an upward bias to our estimates longer-term. We roll forward our target valuations to be based on our 2028 estimates, which increases our target prices by a median of 4 per cent for the Canadian names and 6 per cent for the U.S. names. With a strong and visible growth outlook and an attractive relative valuation we upgrade ENB-CA to Sector outperform. Our favourite Canadian midstream and infrastructure names are BIP-US, KEY-CA, and TRP-CA. Our favourite U.S. names are TRGP-US followed by OKE-US”
Tech
The mega-cap technology companies generate oceans of cashflow so it’s surprising to read that debt is becoming as issue because of AI-related spending. Morgan Stanley global director of research Katy Huberty summarized the firm’s research in a Thursday report,
“In aggregate, four Investment Grade (IG) hyperscalers – Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Oracle – raised $93bn in the public “vanilla” IG market (a fifth IG hyperscaler, Microsoft, did not issue debt in 2025). If we add off-balance-sheet deals done through corporate JVs/Special Purpose Vehicles, we estimate that number to be US$120-billion – the highest-ever level of debt issuance for these companies. Based on our forecast that the five hyperscalers’ capex could exceed US$500bn in 2026, we think US$250-300-billion might be a reasonable estimate for overall issuance from hyperscalers directly this year (not including additional financing in corporate JV format)”
Markets have grown very concerned about Oracle (ORCL-N) in particular, driving its five-year credit default swaps to 1.5 per cent.
Economy
Citi strategist Nathan Sheets believes the global economy is in an early to mid-cycle stage,
“We have previously described the current environment of near-trend global growth, subdued inflation, and central bank easing as ‘Goldilocks,’ and we continue to see that as an apt characterization of macroeconomic conditions. As a corollary, we believe that this performance is likely sustainable. Many features of the global economy strike us as ‘early’ to “mid-cycle,” and certainly not ‘late cycle.’ The upshot is that this solid performance looks poised to continue for some years to come. We correspondingly assess that global recession risk has declined a notch further and is currently no higher than 20 per cent”
Bluesky Post of the Day
Take a moment to orient yourself with this map — www.bloomberg.com/news/article…
— ◥◤Kriston Capps (@kristoncapps.bsky.social) January 15, 2026 at 6:52 AMDiversion
“Amazon is buying copper harvested by bacteria for its data centers” – The Verge