Turning a $100,000 portfolio into $1 million in 10 years requires a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 26%. Your growth stock picks should be capable of consistently growing revenue, earnings or cash flow at this high bar for the next decade till 2035. You won’t clear this hurdle by buying safe utility stocks or mature banks.
While utilities and Canadian bank stocks remain steady and resilient core portfolio investments, it’s the high conviction growth stocks that will deliver life-changing returns. You need to invest in businesses that are either riding a massive secular wave, replicating a proven compounding formula, or sitting on assets the market has severely mispriced.
Here are three Canadian stocks that fit those profiles perfectly right now.
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The secular trend play: MDA Space
If you believe the global space economy will triple in size to $1.8 trillion by 2035 (as the World Economic Forum predicts), you need to gain exposure to the infrastructure builders.
MDA Space (TSX:MDA) is a space technology partner of choice to the growing industry. Up 38% so far this year, the Canadian space engineering company is off to a great start in 2026. MDA stock is fast recovering from an underserved sell-off experienced in 2025 when a new customer sold off its spectrum to Elon Musk’s Space X, abandoning a project that could have added some few billions to MDA Space’s order backlog.
The consolations are coming to MDA in 2026. Its backlog is exploding. The company announced winning an “indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency this month. MDA is securing higher revenue visibility well into the late 2020s.
Why is MDA stock a 10-bagger candidate? The market still often values MDA like a lumpy government contractor. Following recent developments as it shifts to recurring commercial revenue (providing satellite chassis and robotics for private constellations), its valuation multiples should expand. MDA stock trades at a forward P/E of 24. Its industry has a historical average P/E of 52.
Should MDA continue to provide the hardware backbone for the orbital internet (and it will), a 10 times return from today’s $36 level is entirely plausible as the sector matures beyond 2035.
Topicus.com stock: Leaning on a proven compounder’s strategy
If you know the multi-decade growth story of Constellation Software, and you likely missed buying it in 2010, Topicus.com (TSXV:TOI) gives you a second chance to buy a compounder.
Topicus spun out of Constellation to apply the exact same strategy of acquiring vertical market software (VMS) businesses, but specifically in a fragmented European market.
Europe could be a goldmine for VMS acquisitions with thousands of small, family-owned software businesses in niche markets with no succession plans. Topicus is the acquirer of choice.
Why is Topicus.com a multi-bagger stock? Unlike standard tech stocks that normally rely on one “hit” product, Topicus is a capital allocation machine. It grows by reinvesting cheaply earned cash flows into cash flowing assets, creating a self-reinforcing growth spiral that accumulates wealth for shareholders.
Topicus stock has come off its mid-year 2025 highs near $200 to trade at $116 at writing mostly because of the departure of Constellation Software founder. The sell-off could be overdone given how Mark Leonard entrenched a culture of autonomy across acquired subsidiaries, which should remain intact beyond his tenure.
If Topicus.com executes even half as well as its parent company did, the math of compounding will take care of investor returns by 2035.
Imperial Metals: The cyclical growth stock to buy
This is the highest-risk, highest-reward pick of the three. Imperial Metals (TSX:III) is a multi-year growth play on one critical equation: The rapidly electrifying world is running out of copper.
Imperial owns a 30% stake in the Red Chris mine (operated by mining giant Newmont. Newmont is deploying its block-caving expertise to unlock the massive deep resources at Red Chris – a National Interest project in Canada. Meanwhile, recent drilling results at another asset intercepted high-grade copper and gold, expanding mine life substantially, just as Imperial Metals is cleaning its balance sheet.
Mining stocks have extreme leverage to commodity prices. Imperial Metals stock has generated nearly 530% in investment gains during the past year. If copper prices soar due to the electrification crunch as grids upgrade and data centres sprout, Imperial’s assets should become exponentially more valuable.
