Daily roundup of research and analysis from The Globe and Mail\u2019s market strategist Scott Barlow<\/p>\n
AI Supporting domestic tech<\/p>\n
RBC Capital Markets analyst Drew McReynolds reported back from the company\u2019s Canadian technology symposium,<\/p>\n
\u201cAI is transformational and a catalyst for increased software spending. Almost uniformly, companies at our conference were enthusiastic about the potential for AI to strengthen the value proposition of their offerings. Kinaxis (KXS) highlighted that Agentic AI is a key enabler of its enterprise orchestration vision, with MCP connecting Maestro to external systems. Constellation (CSU) views AI as a once in-a-lifetime opportunity to drive new product innovations. Altus (AIF) sees its AI agent increasing customer value and migration of assets to the cloud. VitalHub (VHI) has introduced AI-enabled transcription services, AI-powered referral synopsis capabilities, and data trend analysis features across its product portfolio. Coveo (CVO) believes it is at the tipping point where enterprises have moved beyond AI pilots and are launching large strategic deployments. AI is driving productivity improvements and new pricing models. Firms are seeing AI drive internal productivity improvements, and several are redesigning pricing models to capture AI-driven value creation. VitalHub (VHI) reported that code rewrites previously requiring two people over nine months are now being completed by one person in roughly two and a half months. Altus (AIF) sees its VMS segment as a natural beneficiary of AI-driven productivity gains. Constellation (CSU) noted that costs have not materially increased due to AI. On pricing, Kinaxis (KXS) launched Maestro Activity Units (MAU) pricing that monetizes agentic tokens consumed and automations executed\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr. McReynolds has \u201coutperform\u201d ratings on Constellation Software Inc. (CSU-T<\/a>), Coveo Solutions Inc. (CVO-T<\/a>), Kinaxis Inc. (KXS-T<\/a>), Lumine Group Inc. (LMN-X<\/a>), Descartes Systems Group Inc. (DSG-T<\/a>) and Vitalhub Corp. (VHI-T<\/a>).<\/p>\n Few Canadian babies<\/p>\n BMO senior economist Robert Kavcic discussed the economic implications of Canada\u2019s record low birth rate,<\/p>\n \u201cIn Canada, demographic attention has been rightly focused on the massive influx, and then capping, of nonpermanent residents. But a collapse in natural population growth has been unfolding in the background. Net births are expected to turn negative for the first time ever in 2028. That is, more Canadians will begin to pass away than will be replaced with new babies. There are many causes, and many longer-term implications. Among the latter:-Slower labour force and potential economic growth.-Lower break-even job growth rates.-A role for AI to drive more productivity.-Mounting stress on social security funding.-An evolving housing demand curve<\/p>\n Stocks with improving profitability<\/p>\n Goldman Sachs chief U.S. equity strategist Ben Snider outlines the importance of ROE (return on equity) in equity market returns,<\/p>\n \u201cS&P 500 trailing 4-quarter ROE registers a record high 22 per cent. Whether S&P 500 valuations revert toward their long-term average or prove structurally higher going forward will depend in part on the trajectory of corporate profitability. In our macro model, every 1 percentage point change in S&P 500 ROE is associated with about a 1x turn in S&P 500 P\/E \u2026 S&P 500 ROE has surged by 150 bp during the past four quarters, driven by a boost from the mega-cap technology stocks to index profit margins. Among DuPont components, rising S&P 500 profit margins have also been the primary driver of the index\u2019s 800 bp ROE expansion since 1985 \u2026 The seven largest tech stocks currently have a collective ROE of 44 per cent, which has expanded by 900 bp during the past three years \u2026 AI also creates a key long-term upside case for ROE, both for the mega-cap tech stocks and for the broad equity market\u201d <\/p>\n Mr. Snider listed the stocks with the highest consensus ROE growth for the next 12 months. Take Two Interactive Software, Nike Inc., Global Payments, Abbott Laboratories, GE Aerospace, Ciena Corp., Corning Inc., Analog Devices, First Solar Inc. are companies on the list that might interest Canadian investors. <\/p>\n Bluesky post of the day<\/p>\n If elected President, I will pardon this woman. \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8<\/p>\n [image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Scott Galloway (@profgalloway.com<\/a>) June 15, 2026 at 5:51 AM<\/a>Diversion<\/p>\n