HEADLINES
Brookfield Quarterly Earnings Buoyed by Fund Raising, Wealth Solutions Growth
Brookfield notched stronger earnings in the latest quarter as the investment firm saw strong fundraising in its asset-management operations and growth in wealth solutions.
Distributable earnings, a measure of cash that can be returned to shareholders, rose to $1.72 billion, or 73 cents a share, for the three months to Sept. 30, up from $1.49 billion, or 63 cents a share, a year earlier. That beat the roughly $1.6 billion analysts polled by FactSet were expecting.
Net income attributable to shareholders jumped to $1.31 billion, or 54 cents a share, from $219 million, or 8 cents.
Revenue for the third quarter was up 9.4% to $20.69 billion from last year's $18.92 billion.
Canadian Tire Profit, Revenue Rise on Higher Retail, Online Sales
Canadian Tire reported higher third-quarter profit and revenue, benefiting from broad-based sales growth across its retail banners and expanding online demand.
The Canadian general merchandise, automotive, apparel and sporting goods retailer posted net income of C$246.4 million, or C$4.27 a share, up from C$191.3 million, or C$3.13 a share, in the comparable quarter a year ago.
Normalized earnings, an adjusted figure, came to C$4.27 a share. According to FactSet, analysts were expecting C$3.80 a share.
Magna Mining Shares Fall on Lower 2026 Output Guidance, Rising Costs
Magna Mining downgraded its outlook and raised its cost expectations for 2026 following a geological issue at its flagship mine in Ontario.
Shares lost 15.4%, settling at C$1.65.
Magna noted that while the issue was resolved at the McCreedy West site, it temporarily altered its mining sequence and deferred some higher-grade production into 2027, resulting in lower tonnage and copper-equivalent payable production in the third quarter.
The company expects to produce between 14.5 million and 15.5 million payable pounds of copper equivalent in 2026, down from a previous forecast of between 16 million and 18 million pounds.
Building Permits Weakened in September With 4.1% Drop
Canadian building permits retreated in September, driven by a pullback in residential building intentions in what has been a weak year for the sector.
The total value of building permits fell 4.1% from the month before to a seasonally adjusted C$12.88 billion, Statistics Canada said.
This follows a recovery in August when there was a downwardly revised 7.6% rise in the value of permits after a 15.8% drop the prior month. The overall value of permits in the latest month was up 5.7% on a year earlier.
Construction intentions in the residential sector declined 5.8% from the previous month to C$7.79 billion in value, weighed down by a 9.4% fall in permits for multifamily dwellings, the data agency said. Permits to build single-family homes, however, were up 2% for the month.
Bird Construction Posts Revenue Gain on Organic Growth
Bird Construction reported a surge in revenue, driven by organic growth across its industrial, buildings and infrastructure businesses.
The Canadian construction company late Wednesday reported third-quarter construction revenue of C$1.3 billion, a 37% rise from the prior year period.
The quarter's performance topped analyst forecasts for a rise to C$1.16 billion, according to a FactSet survey of analysts.
Apotex Health Lifts Full-Year Guidance as Drug Launches, Sales Drive Growth
Apotex Health increased its full-year outlook after new drug launches and higher sales drove fiscal second-quarter earnings higher.
The Canadian pharmaceutical company said that it now expects revenue to grow between 9% and 10% in fiscal 2027, up from a previous expectation of between 7% and 8%.
It also expects the adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margin to be 31%, compared with 30%.
Apotex, which specializes in generic, biosimilar, and branded specialty medications, said the rosier outlook follows a strong operational performance in the first half, driven by the launches of new drugs and accelerating revenue growth.
CAE Shares Advance on Rosier Outlook
CAE raised its full-year earnings and margin outlook on stronger-than-expected adjusted profit and surging free cash flow in the fiscal second quarter.
Shares added 3.1% to settle at C$40.19.
CAE late Wednesday said it now expects fiscal 2027 adjusted earnings per share to be between C$1.28 and C$1.35, up from a previous guidance of C$1.21 to C$1.28.
Adjusted segment operating income margin was also revised higher, now projected between 14.9% and 15.4%, up from a previous forecast of between 14.6% and 15.1%.
Hudbay Quarterly Revenue Buoyed by Higher Prices
Hudbay Minerals notched record quarterly revenue on the back of increased copper and gold production and higher metals prices.
The Canadian miner's net earnings attributable to owners came in at $149.5 million, or 34 cents a share, for the third quarter. That was down from $222.4 million, or 56 cents a share, a year earlier but up on the previous quarter's $137.4 million, or 34 cents a share.
On an adjusted basis, per-share earnings also came in at 34 cents, in line with the mean forecast of analysts polled by FactSet.
Revenue for the three months more than doubled to $765.9 million, versus $346.8 million in the same period last year and the roughly $730 million anticipated by analysts.
TALKING POINT
Bad News for Nuclear: A Landmark Reactor Just Got Delayed
By Avi Salzman | Barron's
The first small nuclear reactor to start construction in North America is facing delays and cost overruns, an ominous sign for the nuclear renaissance.
GE Vernova Hitachi's small reactor in Ontario, Canada is expected to go over its original cost target and probably won't be ready by October 2030, the month when it was expected to start operating, according to the Ontario Power Generation, a state-run power company.
That's bad news for the dozens of companies building the next generation of nuclear reactors, such as Oklo, X-Energy and NuScale Power.
While those companies use different technology than the GE Vernova Hitachi joint venture, they tend to trade based on the ups and downs of the entire nuclear industry.
The pitch from these nuclear start-ups -- none of which has built an operating reactor yet -- is that they'll eventually be cheaper and faster to build. That will be a hard case to make if nuclear companies are associated with high power prices and long construction timelines. The stocks have been volatile lately; they were most trading higher on Wednesday on unrelated optimism about the AI buildout.
Ontario Power Generation said on Tuesday that the delays and cost issues were caused by the "ongoing engineering for this first-of-a-kind SMR and the resulting impacts on construction execution and supply chain performance."
This isn't a new issue in nuclear: first-of-their-kind projects tend to take longer than initially expected because all the construction quirks need to be ironed out. A spokesman for GE Vernova said the company is committed to working through any issues affecting the project, which also may include "engineering, procurement and construction, as well as evolving market conditions, including inflation and geopolitical risks."
If the nuclear industry wants buyers to make firm commitments to power contracts, it will have to convince them that these issues can be worked out.
Even before the latest revelations, estimates for the GE Vernova Hitachi reactor were already quite pricey compared with other power sources.
The first 300-megawatt unit was expected to cost 7.7 billion Canadian dollars, or about $5.4 billion. About 80% of that, or $4.3 billion, was for the unit itself, while the rest was for shared infrastructure that will also be used by three other reactors that are expected to be built on site.
Just including that one unit's expenses, the reactor was set to cost over $14,000 per kilowatt. Compare that to the current cost of a new natural gas plant, at roughly $2,500 per kilowatt.
Nuclear has several attributes that make it better than natural gas: the plants are more efficient and don't cause carbon emissions for instance. But to get buyers interested, they'll also have to believe that nuclear can be cost-competitive too.
Write to Avi Salzman at avi.salzman@barrons.com
Expected Major Events for Friday
00:01/UK: Oct Scottish Retail Sales Monitor
07:00/GER: Oct WPI
07:45/FRA: Oct CPI
09:00/FRA: Nov IEA Oil Market Report
09:00/ITA: Sep Foreign Trade EU
13:30/US: Oct PPI
13:30/CAN: Sep Monthly Survey of Manufacturing
13:30/CAN: Sep Wholesale trade
13:30/US: U.S. Weekly Export Sales
15:30/US: 11/06 EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report
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FRMO Corp (FRMO) is expected to report for 1Q.
Fortress Biotech Inc (FBIO) is expected to report for 3Q.
GRAVITY Co Ltd - ADR $(GRVY)$ is expected to report for 3Q.
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