HEADLINES

Economy Contracted in Fourth Quarter, Capping a Soft Year

Canada's economy shrank as it closed out 2025, yet still managed to show resilience against the U.S. administration's protectionist shift.

Gross domestic product declined at an annualized rate of 0.6% in the October-to-December period to C$2.502 trillion, Statistics Canada said.

The contraction was slightly steeper than the 0.2% economists expected following a recovery in the prior quarter. But the weakness was largely thanks to a big withdrawal from business inventories that offset growth in exports, and increases in both household and government spending.

Economic Softness Not Seen Enough to Warrant Rate Cuts Canada Expected to Skirt Recession, But Risks Are Elevated Canada Posts Small Budget Surplus in December

Lululemon Founder Intensifies Board Battle, Cites Weak Governance, Strategic Drift

Lululemon athletica's founder, Chip Wilson, intensified his campaign against the athletic-ware company, accusing the board of weak governance and slow engagement as he continues to push for sweeping changes.

In a letter to shareholders on Friday, the former chairman of the Vancouver, British Columbia-based company and its largest shareholder said that months of private outreach have gone nowhere. He said the board had been slow to engage with his proposals and lacked the brand and creative expertise he believes are essential to restoring lululemon's long-term momentum.

Lululemon in response said it had engaged with Wilson in good faith over the past few months, including a number of meetings. It said it disagreed with Wilson's characterization of the interactions he has had with the company's board.

Lululemon shares declined 0.5% to $185.17.

TransAlta Fourth-Quarter Loss Narrows, Revenue Falls

TransAlta logged a narrowed loss in the fourth quarter while revenue fell.

Shares in Toronto rose more than 5% to C$18.75.

The Calgary, Alberta-based power--generation company posted slightly narrowed net loss of C$62 million, or C$0.21 a share, compared with C$65 million, or C$0.22 a share, in the comparable quarter a year ago.

Revenue fell to C$599 million from C$678 million.

Laurentian Bank of Canada Logs First-Quarter Loss

Laurentian Bank of Canada reported a fiscal first-quarter loss as transaction charges weighed on performance.

For the three months ended Jan. 31, the Canadian bank logged a net loss of C$20.5 million, or C$0.58 a share, compared with a profit of C$38.6 million, or C$0.76 a share, in the comparable quarter a year ago.

The company said that the quarter's loss stemmed from transaction charges in December.

Laurentian Bank of Canada's shares ended Friday's session up 0.2% at C$40.19

AtkinsRealis Fourth-Quarter Profit, Revenue Rise

AtkinsRealis Group profit and revenue rose in the fourth quarter, thanks to strong demand for its services, a momentum which it expects to continue into 2026.

The Canadian engineering and project-management company posted net income of C$95 million, or C$0.57 a share, up from C$52.4 million, or C$0.30 a share, in the comparable quarter a year ago.

Revenues rose to C$2.93 billion from C$2.59 billion, topping forecasts. The company credits the strong demand for its services and nuclear products, driving the backlog higher. AtkinsRealis also noted strong increases in its Engineering Services Regions and Nuclear segments.

Shares of AtkinsRealis ended Friday down 1.6% at C$94.55.

Canada Contemplates Import Credits to Lure, Maintain Auto Investment

Canada is mulling incentives for automakers to maintain and expand operations there by issuing credits that exempt them from retaliatory tariffs on U.S.-made cars they want to sell to the Canadian public.

The credit system is an element of a new automotive strategy that Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled this month, designed to preserve domestic motor-vehicle assembly and auto-parts production amid President Trump's 25% tariff on all foreign-made cars. On Friday, the Department of Finance issued proposed changes to a waiver system currently in place that allows automakers that make cars in Canada to import vehicles from their U.S. plants without facing Canada's own 25% retaliatory levy.

CPP Investments, Equinix in $4 Billion Deal to Buy Nordic Data-Center Operator

CPP Investments and digital-infrastructure company Equinix agreed to jointly acquire Nordic data-center operator atNorth for $4 billion, including debt.

AtNorth owner Partners Group, which bought the company in 2022, said that it had committed to reinvest and buy back up to 10% of the data-center operator after the sale.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board will invest $1.6 billion for a 60% stake, while digital infrastructure company Equinix will own a 40% stake, the companies said in a separate release.

Docebo Sets 2026 Growth Targets After Fourth-Quarter Beats

Docebo has set its guidance for revenue growth in 2026 after topping expectations in the fourth quarter.

The educational technology company said it expects total revenue to rise to $267.5 million to $269.5 million in 2026, up from $242.7 million in 2025. Analysts expect revenue of $265.9 million.

For the fourth quarter, the Toronto company posted net income that more than doubled to $26.9 million, or 93 cents a share, up from $11.9 million, or 39 million a share, in the comparable quarter a year ago. Adjusted earnings came to 46 cents a share. According to FactSet, analysts were expecting 35 cents a share.

Docebo's Toronto-listed shares fell 3.8% to C$23.56.

TALKING POINT

AI is Weighing on Shopify Shares. That's Creating an Opportunity

By David Berman, The Globe and Mail

Add Shopify to the list of Canadian stocks that are being battered over fears of disruption from artificial intelligence. But what if these fears are misplaced?

Within the blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 Index, the five biggest laggards so far in 2026 all bear the scars of an AI drubbing, as investors envision chatbots displacing current software.

Shopify, Constellation Software, Open Text, Thomson Reuters and CGI Group Inc. are down by an average of nearly 24% each this year, as of Friday morning. Shopify briefly lagged the five laggards earlier this week before the stock regained some lost ground.

For Shopify, which helps small and mid-sized merchants sell online with a broad suite of products and services, the threat from AI may appear large: If chatbots can lead consumers directly to merchants, Shopify could be sidelined.

Investors are clearly rattled. This is a company that has at times vied with Royal Bank of Canada as the country's most valuable public company, based on the total value of outstanding shares -- underscoring its vaunted success as a global growth story.

Shopify's market capitalization lags RBC by $100 billion, or 31%, as of Friday.

More importantly, the downturn is a snub to executives' insistence that the company is anything but a casualty of AI.

They believe that the technology will drive deeper online commercial activity for online merchants as shoppers -- armed with chatbots such as ChatGPT or Gemini -- find their way to Shopify-powered storefronts.

Shopify is encouraging this crossover with chatbots. In January, the company announced that it had co-developed with Google the infrastructure -- called the universal commerce protocol -- that can smooth out the entire online shopping experience.

"Shopify is foundational in powering the commerce layer of the AI era, and we're just getting started," Harley Finkelstein, president of Shopify, said during a conference call with analysts on Feb. 11.

Judging from the share price and tumbling valuation, though, investors aren't buying these assurances -- even as a number of experts have rushed to the defence of the beleaguered software sector in recent weeks.

Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, believes that the AI threat to the software sector is one of several wrong-headed tech trades he has seen over the past 25 years where investors bet wrong.

"The AI trade has been the 'fear of the unknown' for the tech and software sector in particular. For the bulls, it's like fighting a ghost, " Ives said in a note last week.

Jensen Huang, Nvidia's chief executive officer and a key architect of the AI boom, argued earlier this month that fears of AI disrupting the software industry is "the most illogical thing in the world."

That should put Shopify on the radar screens of investors looking for growth stocks that are now on sale.

Okay, Shopify can't be called cheap. The shares trade at 66 times estimated earnings, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. That's down from a price-to-earnings ratio of 96 at the end of 2025, but clearly still elevated even for a tech stock.

Mighty Nvidia, for example, trades at a significantly lower multiple of 25 times estimated earnings.

Looking at Shopify from the perspective of estimated revenues, the stock is also expensive -- even though its price-to-sales ratio has declined to 10.3, down from over 15 at the end of 2025.

If you're waiting for Shopify to fall to levels that are broadly recognized as a screaming bargain, the sidelines are probably for you.

Nonetheless, Shopify is enticing for a couple of reasons.

First, it has undeniably strong growth prospects that help explain the heady valuation. In 2025, revenue increased by 30%, year-over-year, to US$11.6 billion.

That marks an acceleration from 25% growth in 2024. Shopify has doubled its revenues in just three years.

The bullish case for the stock rests on Shopify continuing to expand at a brisk clip as it carves out a bigger share of the world's massive e-commerce market and grows into a valuation that is now well off its highs.

The other reason the stock is enticing: Widespread concerns that AI is a threat are perhaps overstated or flat-out wrong.

"We view the selloff as overdone," Todd Coupland, an analyst at CIBC Capital Markets, said in a note.

"Shopify's scale, data advantage and integration with OpenAI, Gemini and Copilot position the company to benefit rather than be displaced by them, " he added.

Wagering that AI will boost Shopify's appeal, rather than tarnish it, looks like a wild bet right now. But that's also what makes the stock appealing.

Expected Major Events for Monday

00:01/UK: Feb CBI Growth Indicator Survey

00:30/JPN: Feb Japan Manufacturing PMI

05:00/JPN: Feb Auto sales

06:00/RUS: Feb Russian Manufacturing PMI

07:00/GER: Jan Retail Trade

07:00/UK: Feb Nationwide House Price Index

08:45/ITA: Feb Italy Manufacturing PMI

08:50/FRA: Feb France Manufacturing PMI

08:55/GER: Feb Germany Manufacturing PMI

09:00/ITA: Annual GDP yearly data

09:00/ITA: Annual General Government Debt

09:30/UK: Jan Monetary & Financial Statistics

09:30/UK: Jan Money and Credit - Lending to Individuals, Lending to Businesses, Broad Money and Credit

09:30/UK: Jan Bank of England effective interest rates

09:30/UK: Feb S&P Global UK Manufacturing PMI

09:30/UK: 4Q Household Finance Review

14:30/CAN: Feb Canada Manufacturing PMI

14:45/US: Feb US Manufacturing PMI

15:00/US: Feb ISM Report On Business Manufacturing PMI

23:30/JPN: Jan Labour Force Survey

23:50/JPN: 4Q Quarterly Financial Statements Statistics of Corporations

23:50/JPN: Feb Monetary Base

All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.

Expected Earnings for Monday

AAON Inc $(AAON)$ is expected to report $0.43 for 4Q.

ADT Inc $(ADT)$ is expected to report $0.21 for 4Q.

Alamo Group Inc $(ALG)$ is expected to report $2.12 for 4Q.

Ameresco Inc - Class A $(AMRC)$ is expected to report $0.31 for 4Q.

Annexon Inc $(ANNX)$ is expected to report $-0.32 for 4Q.

Apogee Therapeutics Inc (APGE) is expected to report $-0.99 for 4Q.

Archer Aviation Inc (ACHR) is expected to report $-0.24 for 4Q.

ArriVent BioPharma Inc (AVBP) is expected to report $-0.86 for 4Q.

Astrana Health Inc (ASTH) is expected to report $0.11 for 4Q.

Biohaven Ltd $(BHVN)$ is expected to report $-1.19 for 4Q.

California Resources Corp $(CRC)$ is expected to report $0.45 for 4Q.

Capstone Copper Corp (CS.T) is expected to report for 4Q.

Cassava Sciences Inc (SAVA) is expected to report for 4Q.

Cerus Corp $(CERS)$ is expected to report $-0.01 for 4Q.

Compugen Ltd (CGEN,CGEN.TV) is expected to report $-0.08 for 4Q.

Core Scientific Inc (CORZ) is expected to report $-0.16 for 4Q.

EchoStar Corp $(SATS)$ is expected to report $-0.46 for 4Q.

Helios Technologies Inc $(HLIO)$ is expected to report $0.51 for 4Q.

InterRent Real Estate Investment Trust (IIP.UN.T,IIPZF) is expected to report for 4Q.

K92 Mining Inc (KNT.T) is expected to report for 4Q.

Minerva Neurosciences Inc (NERV) is expected to report $-0.49 for 4Q.

NextDecade Corp $(NEXT)$ is expected to report $-0.08 for 4Q.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd $(NCLH)$ is expected to report $0.21 for 4Q.

PMV Pharmaceuticals Inc (PMVP) is expected to report $-0.43 for 4Q.

PepGen Inc $(PEPG)$ is expected to report $-0.38 for 4Q.

Pinetree Capital Ltd (PNP.T) is expected to report for 4Q.

Progressive Corp $(PGR)$ is expected to report $4.73 for 4Q.

Riot Platforms Inc (RIOT) is expected to report $-0.24 for 4Q.

Sealed Air Corp $(SEE)$ is expected to report $0.67 for 4Q.

Sturm Ruger & Co $(RGR)$ is expected to report for 4Q.

TEGNA Inc $(TGNA)$ is expected to report $0.46 for 4Q.

Turning Point Brands Inc (TPB) is expected to report $0.87 for 4Q.

Uniti Group Inc (UNIT) is expected to report for 4Q.

UroGen Pharma Ltd (URGN) is expected to report $-0.50 for 4Q.

Venture Global Inc $(VG)$ is expected to report for 4Q.

Weis Markets Inc $(WMK)$ is expected to report for 4Q.

WhiteHorse Finance Inc $(WHF)$ is expected to report $0.27 for 4Q.

Xeris Biopharma Holdings Inc $(XERS)$ is expected to report $0.02 for 4Q.

Zymeworks Inc $(ZYME)$ is expected to report $-0.46 for 4Q.

enCore Energy Corp (EU.V) is expected to report for 4Q.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 27, 2026 16:38 ET (21:38 GMT)

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