We recently compiled a list of the 10 Best Performing Canadian Stocks in 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Brookfield Corporation (NYSE:BN) stands against the other Canadian stocks.
According to Deloitte’s January 2025 report, the Bank of Canada’s decision to shift monetary policy from neutral to slightly stimulative (2.25%) by the middle of the year would assist the Canadian economy grow faster in 2025. Inflation is also predicted to continue close to the 2% target in the coming year, improving the outlook. However, the main concern for 2025 is if and when business confidence will recover. Companies may remain isolated in 2025 due to uncertainties surrounding the newly elected Trump Administration’s tax, regulation, and trade policies.
Canada remains the United States’ second-biggest commercial partner and largest export market. In the first three quarters of 2024, around C$800 billion ($600 billion) in goods passed the Canada-US border. Including trade in services raises the totals to C$910 billion ($683 billion). That equates to C$3.6 billion in total import and export movements every day. In that vein, additional tariffs are not something the Canadian economy wants to contend with. That said, U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to levy 25% import duties on all Canadian goods and 10% on energy was put on hold for 30 days earlier this month after Canada implemented additional border security measures. On February 9, however, Trump said that he will impose fresh 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States, in addition to current metals charges, in another significant escalation of his trade policy reform. However, in an exclusive TV interview, Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng indicated that her country was prepared to retaliate should unfair tariffs be imposed:
“Should Canada get tariffs that are punishing, tariffs that will hurt our economy, everything will be on the table.”
As the fear of a trade war rises, Canadian investors are taking advantage of a weaker currency and anticipated volatility, seeking refuge in gold and stocks of companies that manufacture commodities with few, if any, substitutes, such as uranium. In addition, industries such as financial, telecom, real estate, energy, and commodities, which make up about two-thirds of Canada’s primary stock market index, the S&P/TSX Composite, are likely to benefit from exemptions or avoid the immediate implications of tariffs. However, if the Canadian economy enters a recession, analysts warn that salaries may fall. Despite the tariffs, the TSX has held close to its January record high, thanks primarily to metals-related shares and considerable increases in technology companies.
Nonetheless, the Canadian stock market is in an interesting space for now. With that in mind, we will take a look at some of the best performing Canadian stocks this year.
Our Methodology
To come up with our list of the best-performing Canadian stocks in 2025, we reviewed several Canadian stocks trading on the U.S. market and sorted them by their 1-year performance as of February 14, in ascending order. Additionally, we included hedge fund sentiment on each stock to provide further insight into each company’s outlook.
Why do we care about what hedge funds do? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
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Brookfield Corporation (NYSE:BN)
1-Year Returns: 50.98%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 37
Brookfield Corporation (NYSE:BN) is a Canadian multinational corporation that ranks among the world’s largest alternative investment management companies. Brookfield is known for handling direct control investments in real estate, renewable energy, infrastructure, credit, and private equity.
On February 11, JPMorgan analyst Kenneth Worthington lowered Brookfield Corporation’s (NYSE:BN) price target to $61 from $65. Despite this shift, the analyst retains his Overweight rating on the stock. Worthington highlighted Brookfield’s continuing fundraising activities, which are likely to dramatically increase the company’s fee-earning assets and income, which are now valued at $93.22 billion. This increase is expected to be driven mostly by the company’s flagship goods, with additional help from perpetual funding and the introduction of new items.
Brookfield Corporation (NYSE:BN) announced record financial results for 2024, with distributable profits before realizations up 15% to $4.9 billion. The company’s asset management business had inflows of more than $135 billion, with fee-bearing capital increasing 18% to $539 billion, while its wealth solutions business nearly quadrupled its profitability over the preceding year on account of the American Equity Life acquisition and organic development.
Third Point Management stated the following regarding Brookfield Corporation (NYSE:BN) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Last summer we initiated a position in Brookfield Corporation (NYSE:BN). Brookfield is one of the largest global alternative asset managers with over $500 billion in fee-earning AUM. We believe Brookfield is uniquely positioned to be a beneficiary of the secular growth tailwinds around infrastructure, where it is the preeminent global franchise, and private credit, where it is a top player with $250 billion in fee-earning credit assets. These are two of the fastest growing asset classes within alternatives.
We believe infrastructure is poised to benefit from the dual tailwinds of the enormous global funding gap in traditional infrastructure – estimated at $100 trillion of required investment through 2040 – and significant new demand for digital infrastructure to support data and compute needs. Brookfield has a long track record of first quartile returns within its global infrastructure business and a 100+ year history as an owner-operator of real assets that predates its asset management franchise. In 2022, it raised its offshoot Global Transition fund at in our view an impressive $13 billion first vintage, and in 2023, it closed on the largest infrastructure drawdown fund ever raised at $28 billion..” (Click here to read the full text)
Overall BN ranks 6th on our list of the best Canadian stocks to buy. While we acknowledge the potential of BN as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that certain AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than BN but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.