If you have $1,000 sitting on the sidelines this March, AutoCanada (TSX:ACQ) and Capstone Copper (TSX:CS) are two TSX stocks that deserve a serious look.
AutoCanada is a turnaround play with new management, a leaner cost base, and improving store-level execution.
Capstone Copper is a pure-play copper miner generating record cash flow into one of the strongest commodity price environments in years.
Neither TSX stock is without risk. But both have clear catalysts that could drive meaningful gains over the next 12 to 18 months, and $1,000 split between them is a reasonable way to play both.
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AutoCanada is on the cusp of a turnaround
AutoCanada had a rough 2025. Revenue from continuing operations fell 7.1% to $4.9 billion, while gross profit dropped 10.4%. And fourth-quarter (Q4) adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) came in at $32.7 million, down sharply from $54.4 million in the same period a year earlier.
On the Q4 earnings call, new CEO Samuel Cochrane said roughly 80% of the EBITDA decline was self-inflicted due to execution missteps during the company’s restructuring, and not tied to fundamental market weakness.
Used-vehicle procurement decisions made earlier in the year didn’t align with reduced staff and marketing budgets. That left AutoCanada with aged inventory heading into 2026, which continues to pressure per-unit gross profit today.
The good news is the company knows what went wrong and is fixing it.
- A new operations leadership team is in place.
- Used-vehicle pricing has been reset to market levels.
- Store-by-store “buy box” strategies are being implemented to prevent the same procurement mistakes from repeating.
- The volume gap relative to the broader market was 19 percentage points in Q3 of 2025, narrowing to 10 percentage points in Q4.
For patient investors, this is a classic turnaround setup: a quality asset temporarily impaired by execution, not by anything broken in the underlying business.
Is this Canadian mining stock a good buy?
Capstone Copper is a different kind of opportunity and a more straightforward one.
The mid-cap mining stock delivered record copper production of 225,000 tonnes in 2025, up 22% from 2024. Adjusted EBITDA hit a record $308 million in Q4, up 79% year over year.
Cash costs came in at a record low of $2.31 per pound, and London Metal Exchange copper prices, which averaged $5.03 per pound in Q4, were sitting near $6 per pound at the time of the call: a meaningful tailwind that hasn’t fully flowed through to reported earnings yet.
CEO Cashel Meagher put it plainly: “We are well positioned to become a leading long-life, low-cost copper producer.”
Capstone guided for 200,000 to 230,000 tons of copper in 2026 at C1 cash costs of $2.45 to $2.75 per pound as lower-grade mine sequences at Mantos Blancos and Pinto Valley create a temporary headwind.
The company’s Mantoverde optimized project, a $176 million expansion, is on track to exit 2026 with a throughput of 45,000 tons per day, adding roughly 20,000 tons of annual copper production at a low capital cost of around $9,000 per ton.
And if copper prices stay anywhere near current levels, the EBITDA sensitivity is dramatic. Management guided for $1.2 billion to $1.7 billion in 2026 at $5.50 to $6.50 per pound of copper, rising toward $1.7 billion to $2.3 billion in 2027.
Capstone also has liquidity exceeding $1 billion, net debt-to-EBITDA of just 0.8 times, and a permitted growth pipeline that could increase production by a further 70% over time.
The Foolish takeaway
AutoCanada and Capstone Copper represent two distinct investment theses: one is a turnaround, and the other is a commodity compounder. But both share the same trait and are priced below what the business can eventually deliver.
For AutoCanada, the bet is on execution recovery over 12 to 18 months. For Capstone, it’s on copper prices staying strong while a pipeline of low-cost growth projects kicks in.
Split $1,000 between the two, and you’re getting a diversified position in two Canadian companies with real catalysts and management teams that have been refreshingly honest about where things stand.
That combination doesn’t come along often. March might be the right time to act.
