Stantec Inc T.STN

Scotia Capital

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Mr. Goldman also raised his target for Stantec Inc. by $1 to $162 (versus the $171 average) with a “sector outperform” rating, noting it needs “M&A to backfill 2026 targets, but it’s not a stretch.”

 

“The company has tough comps in the U.S. in 4Q, but unlike WSP it doesn’t have the benefit of POWER Engineers to boost growth,” he said. “We see upside to margins as consensus has them down year-over-year despite tracking up 100 basis points year-to-date. Last year, management didn’t call out any significant one-timers. For 2026, we forecast revenue of $7.1-billion, which implies Stantec needs to add $400-million from M&A to meet 2024-2026 targets. That’s not a stretch given the company has been pacing in that range in 2024 (Morrison Hershfield, Hydrock) and 2025 (Page, Cosgroves, Ryan Hanley). The B/S is also in really good shape with leverage at 1.5 times as at 3Q25, at the midpoint of comfort zone of 1 times to 2 times. There is likely upside to 2026 margin targets as well given the company already hit the midpoint of the range (17.5 per cent) in 3Q25, a year ahead of schedule.”