A year can change a lot, but it can also confirm what made a stock worth buying in the first place. When you look back after 12 months, the key questions are simple: did the business keep growing, did management execute, and does the long-term story still make sense? A stock does not need to soar every single quarter to stay attractive. It just needs to keep building value. That is why some names still look like buys even after a strong run, while others lose their shine fast.
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BN
Brookfield (TSX:BN) is one of those stocks I would still buy again without much hand-wringing. It’s a giant global investment company with exposure to asset management, wealth solutions, infrastructure, renewable power, private equity, and real estate. Over the last year, Brookfield stock kept giving investors reasons to pay attention, including the launch of a US$100 billion artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure program with partners including NVIDIA and the Kuwait Investment Authority. That move showed Brookfield is leaning into new ones with real scale.
The earnings were strong as well. Brookfield stock reported 2025 distributable earnings before realizations of US$5.4 billion, or US$2.27 per share, up 11% year over year. Total distributable earnings came in at US$6 billion, or US$2.54 per share. Fee-bearing capital climbed 12% to US$603 billion, and fee-related earnings rose 22% to US$3 billion. That is the kind of growth that keeps the story moving, even when markets feel messy. Brookfield stock also raised its quarterly dividend by 17% and repurchased more than US$1 billion of shares in 2025, which adds another layer of confidence.
Valuation is where Brookfield gets a little tricky. Its trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) still looks high on headline numbers, around 80 times earnings, but its forward P/E sits much closer to 12. That gap tells you investors are paying for future earnings power, not just trailing results. This can look expensive if growth slows, so that is the risk. Still, with US$188 billion of deployable capital, more growth coming from wealth solutions, and a business that keeps finding new places to put money to work, Brookfield stock still looks like one I would buy again.
WSP
WSP Global (TSX:WSP) lands in the same category for me. It’s one of the world’s largest engineering and professional services firms, with work tied to transportation, buildings, water, energy, environment, and major infrastructure. Over the last year, WSP stayed busy expanding. It completed the acquisition of Ricardo in October 2025 and then completed its acquisition of TRC in February 2026. That gave it even more scale in power, energy, advisory, and environmental services at a time when demand for infrastructure and grid upgrades still looks strong.
The latest earnings backed up the growth story. WSP reported 2025 revenue of $18.3 billion, up from $16.2 billion in 2024. Net revenue rose to $14 billion, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) reached $2.6 billion, and net earnings attributable to shareholders jumped to $964.3 million from $681.4 million. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) climbed to $9.58 from $8.05. Just as important, backlog hit a record $17.1 billion and free cash flow came in at $1.7 billion. Those show a business with real momentum.
WSP is not exactly cheap, but it rarely looks cheap for long because the market tends to reward steady compounders. Its trailing P/E sits around 32, while the forward P/E is closer to 19. Management expects 2026 net revenue between $16 billion and $17 billion and adjusted EBITDA between $3 billion and $3.18 billion, so the growth runway still looks open. The main risk is execution. Big acquisitions always bring integration work, and any slowdown in infrastructure spending could cool enthusiasm. Even so, WSP still looks like the kind of stock that rewards patience.
Bottom line
A year later, Brookfield stock and WSP still look like stocks worth buying without hesitation because neither one needed a flashy story to stay attractive. Brookfield keeps building across huge global themes, and WSP keeps turning infrastructure demand into steady growth. These aren’t the cheapest stocks on the board, but still look like businesses you would feel good owning a year from now as well.
