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 Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP) 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).
An enthusiastic customer completing a purchase and receiving an order confirmation via one of the companies online sales channels.
Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP)
1-Year Returns: 57.89%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 56
Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP) is a Canada-based e-commerce company that provides a platform for merchants to sell items via a variety of sales channels. Shopify’s platform is utilized by millions of businesses in 175 countries, making it a crucial tool for supporting organizations all around the world.
Phillip Securities substituted SHOP from Buy to Accumulate on February 17, increasing the stock’s price target to $140 from $105. The revision followed Shopify’s Q4 performance, which exceeded sales and profit expectations because of solid cost control. According to the firm’s report, Shopify’s revenue and profit after tax and minority interests (PATMI) for fiscal year 2024 exceeded expectations by 102% and 167%, respectively.
Polen Capital mentioned Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP) in its Q2 2024 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:
“Shopify’s business model combines 1) a mission-critical software business where merchants can run all their business operations from one dashboard and 2) a payments business with a long runway to increase attach rates and grow alongside merchants. Additionally, we believe the business possesses significant optionality to continue attaching existing merchant solutions and adding more merchant services as high-margin cross-sells. With several powerful tailwinds at their back (e-commerce, mobile commerce, social media, digital payments, seamless omnichannel, DTC, cloud software digitization) and a highly scalable business model, we think their growth will likely be stronger for longer than investors expect.”
Overall SHOP ranks 5th on our list of the best Canadian stocks to buy. While we acknowledge the potential of SHOP 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 SHOP 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.
