3 Global Industrials That Benefit When the Real Economy Keeps Moving

These three global industrial giants can help Canadians diversify beyond banks and energy, while tapping aerospace, automation, and electrification tailwinds.

Amy Legate-Wolfe

Author Bio Amy became interested in investing in 2018 after having her first daughter. After receiving a masters degree in journalism from Western University, she became frustrated that the finance industry remained a confusing place for Canadians like her: new parents, millennials, and other young people who needed to understand their finances. Now, Amy focuses on tech companies and renewable energy for growth opportunities, coupling that with long-term investing strategies and equities. She also provides investors with a daily newsletter, Canada Stock Digest, for daily market updates. Her work can also be found at Canada's National Observer, where she writes on the business side of climate action. Before joining Motley Fool Canada, Amy wrote for major news organizations including HuffPost, CTVNews.ca, and CBC. When she’s not researching investing strategies, Amy’s time is pretty much monopolized by her two wild daughters, but in what little spare time she has she loves to do yoga, go on walks with her dog, and travel with her husband. Social Media Follow Amy on LinkedIn and Canada Stock Digest. Favorite Investment Quote “October: This is one of the particularly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February.” – Mark Twain

Published March 31, 8:30 pm EDT

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Key Points

Airbus lets you ride global travel and defence demand, though aircraft production delays can pressure results.
Siemens adds exposure to factory automation, smart infrastructure, and AI-driven data-centre investment, but industrial spending can cool in downturns.
ABB offers electrification and automation growth plus buybacks, with execution risk if orders or margins weaken.

Global industrials can be a smart move for any Canadian. The Canadian market is still heavily concentrated in financials, energy, and materials. That leaves a lot of the real economy underrepresented in a Canada-heavy portfolio. Global industrial names can add exposure to aircraft, factory automation, electrification, and infrastructure spending, which gives investors a wider set of growth drivers. That matters even more when trade, energy, and supply-chain investment keep pushing companies to build, upgrade, and move more efficiently. So today, let’s look at some solid options.

energy oil gas — Image source: Getty Images

AIR

Airbus (FRA: AIR) is a great example of an industrial that benefits when the world keeps moving. It is one of the biggest aerospace companies on the planet, with commercial aircraft, defence, and helicopter businesses. For Canadian investors, that means exposure to global travel demand, airline fleet renewal, and defence spending, all in one name. Airbus also had a strong 2025, delivering 793 commercial aircraft and growing revenue to €73.4 billion.

The numbers look solid. Airbus reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes (EBIT) of €7.1 billion, reported earnings per share (EPS) of €6.61, and free cash flow before customer financing of €4.6 billion for 2025. Management also issued 2026 guidance that includes around 820 commercial aircraft deliveries and adjusted EBIT of about €7 billion. This is not a dirt-cheap stock, but it is a quality industrial with huge scale and long-term demand behind it. The main risk is that aircraft production is never perfectly smooth, but if the real economy keeps humming, Airbus looks well placed to benefit.

SIE

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft (FRA: SIE) brings a different kind of industrial strength. It’s tied to automation, software, smart infrastructure, and electrification. That is a very useful mix right now because companies are still investing in factories, buildings, grids, and AI-related infrastructure. Over the last year, Siemens has leaned further into that theme, with AI-driven data-centre demand that helped push first-quarter fiscal 2026 results above expectations.

The earnings make the case pretty nicely. In the first quarter of fiscal 2026, Siemens posted sales of €19.1 billion, net profit of €2.22 billion, and industrial profit of €2.9 billion. It also raised its full-year earnings outlook to €10.70 to €11.10 per share. That is exactly the kind of update investors like to see from a global industrial. The global stock is not cheap in a bargain-bin sense, but strong software, automation, and infrastructure exposure give it a lot of staying power. The risk is that industrial spending can cool if the global economy stumbles, but Siemens still looks like a strong fit for long-term investors.

ABB

ABB (XSWX: ABBN) rounds out the list with a nice balance of quality and practicality. It operates in electrification and automation, which means it sells into many of the same long-term trends that are reshaping the global economy. That includes grid upgrades, industrial efficiency, robotics, transport, and data-centre power systems. Recently, ABB delivered strong fourth-quarter 2025 results and sounded confident enough to launch a new US$2 billion buyback.

Its numbers were strong too. ABB reported record full-year 2025 orders of US$36.8 billion, revenue of US$33.2 billion, and a 19% operational EBITA margin. In the fourth quarter alone, revenue rose 13% to US$9.1 billion and operational EBITA climbed 19% to US$1.6 billion. Management is guiding for 6% to 9% revenue growth in 2026, along with further margin improvement. That gives ABB a very attractive mix of growth and execution. The valuation is not screamingly cheap, but the global stock keeps showing why investors are willing to pay up.

Bottom line

Put the three together and the case is pretty simple. Airbus gives you global movement, Siemens gives you automation and infrastructure, and ABB gives you electrification and industrial efficiency. For Canadians who want to look beyond the usual domestic sectors, these three offer a solid way to invest in the real economy without relying only on Canada to carry the load.