Daily roundup of research and analysis from The Globe and Mail’s market strategist Scott Barlow
Real Estate
Scotiabank analyst Mario Saric outlined the implications of a new report on lender intentions and reviews top picks in REIT sector,
“OUR TAKE: Slight Positive. We summarize CAD REIT implications from the CBRE 2026 CAD Lenders Report; this is our 8th-annual edition. We also attended the same-day Lenders Forum . The overall message = percentage of lenders looking to increase CRE allocations is up 6 per cent year-over-year to 76 per cent, highest in 10+ years, which we think drives CBRE’s forecast 19-per-cent increase in transaction volumes (positive for CIGI), a key driver of improved REIT valuations, in our view . The biggest acceleration in lender interest = Office (2025 = Retail), with deceleration in Industrial (2025 = Industrial; Industrial REITs still outperformed). Historically, REITs in asset classes with the most-improved lender sentiment typically outperform (2025 = anomaly). Overall, while REIT total return upside has compressed (NTM [next 12 months] = 13 per cent vs. 20 per cent post Q3 results), we see the results supporting 10-15-per-cent sector returns at 1-2-per-cent Real GDP growth. Our Top Picks: Growth: CSH, SIA, SVI. Value: DIR, GRT, KMP. Income: CHP, CRR. We prefer BAM over BN, but both are SO rated and capable of 20-per-cent-plus NTM Total Returns. Within Real Estate Services, our pecking order is CIGI, and then FSV (both are SO-rated)”
Tech
Goldman Sach’ weekly Briefings email offered non-Magnificent Seven stocks benefiting from the AI buildout,
“Big technology companies like the Magnificent 7 often get the majority of investor attention. But Goldman Sachs Asset Management sees other, additional opportunities in companies linked to broader AI infrastructure: Fiber Optics: Next-generation servers and data centers are increasingly adopting fiber optic cables over copper. This shift is driven by fiber’s superior bandwidth, signal integrity, energy efficiency, and higher density—all critical for the rapid data transfer demanded by AI and cloud computing workloads. Fiber optic cables can overcome copper’s limitations (speed, distance, power, interference), enabling more compact and scalable infrastructure. Data and Security: AI, especially agentic AI, is accelerating, not disrupting, critical software components related to data and security. Companies are making significant investments in data cleansing, reliable dataset creation, and advanced identity frameworks to prepare proprietary data for AI training. These foundational data and security layers, often powered by specialized software, are becoming indispensable for enabling advanced AI capabilities and ensuring model integrity. While the market fears AI disruption in other software areas, Goldman Sachs Asset Management is bullish on these specific, accelerated software segments crucial for sustainable, AI-driven growth”
Corning Inc. is the big name in fiber optics. I know that Elastic NV works with massive data sets but I need to research more. Same with Snowflake Inc.
Energy infrastructure
RBC Capital Markets analyst Maurice Choy thinks the Alberta government is playing coy on future pipelines,
“Our view: We believe the Alberta Budget presented several indicators that can be incrementally positive for the Canadian Energy Infrastructure sector, although supportive commercial and policy frameworks still need to be finalized before any benefit to the companies can be tangibly measured and priced into stock valuations. Given investor interests, we focused our review of the Budget on two themes: crude oil pipeline egress and data centers in the province. On the former theme, it is clear that there are many irons in the fire that can materially increase egress capacity through and beyond 2030, with Enbridge and certain WCSB-oriented midstreamers (including Pembina, Keyera and Gibson Energy) standing to benefit if the government’s list of mentioned projects materializes. On the latter theme, there were some mentions, but nothing materially new, other than perhaps a favourable clarification relating to the 2% data center levy. As we believe that the Alberta government is continuing to welcome data centers into its province, we are of the view that the lack of details is intentional, with more to come via upcoming announcements relating to a carbon tax update (by April 1) and a new data center incentive framework (by July 1)”
Bluesky post of the day
New piece at the Hub! I drill into the numbers to show that GDP per capita is overstating Canada's quality of life, and a variety of other indicators show that we're falling behind our global peers... fast. We're too complacent, and it's costing us.
— Dr. Mike P. Moffatt (@mikepmoffatt.bsky.social) February 26, 2026 at 9:53 AM
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Diversion
“Neanderthal Men and Human Women Were Most Likely to Hook Up, Study Finds” - Gizmodo