The Sectors Where Canada Actually Beats the United States

Canada’s edge isn’t copying U.S. tech — it’s owning cash-generating real assets like infrastructure, agriculture inputs, and alternative asset management.

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 April 23, 10:30 am EDT

| More on: BAMENBNPK

Key Points

Canada can outperform when investors focus on sectors where it has structural advantages, not headline-grabbing tech.
Verde is a tiny, higher-risk fertilizer and rare-earths story that depends on better Brazil demand and execution.
Brookfield Asset Management and Enbridge are the steadier examples, benefiting from long-duration real-asset cash flows and scale.

Canada rarely wins by trying to look like the United States. It wins when it leans into what it already does well: resources, infrastructure, and long-duration capital. The U.S. still dominates big tech and consumer giants, but Canada has a real edge in sectors tied to food inputs, pipelines, and global asset management. Those areas tend to throw off hard cash, hold up better in choppy markets, and benefit from scarcity. That doesn’t make every Canadian stock a winner, but it does mean investors shouldn’t assume bigger always means better.

NPK

Verde AgriTech (TSX: NPK) sells potassium-based specialty fertilizers in Brazil, giving it exposure to agriculture rather than the Canadian economy alone. Over the last year, the story got more interesting because management kept trying to stabilize the fertilizer business while also advancing a rare earths project in Minas Gerais. That adds upside, but it also adds complexity.

The latest earnings still show why this Canadian stock belongs in the speculative bucket. In Q3 2025, revenue fell 18% year over year to $5.9 million, though Verde posted its first positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) since Q2 2023 at about $0.1 million.

The Canadian stock’s market cap sat near $64 million in late March. So, why mention it at all? Because if Brazilian farm demand improves and the rare earths project keeps delivering strong drill results, this tiny name could look very different in a few years. It’s not a core holding, but it does show how Canada still produces compelling resource-linked niche plays.

BAM

Brookfield Asset Management (TSX: BAM) is the exact opposite. This one is large, global, and far less speculative. It shows where Canada really does beat the U.S. in a quieter way: alternative asset management tied to infrastructure, renewables, credit, and real assets. Over the last year, Brookfield kept expanding that reach. It named Connor Teskey as CEO, launched new artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure efforts, and stayed active in major deals tied to data centres, industrial property, and global institutional capital.

The numbers were strong enough to back that up. Brookfield reported record 2025 fundraising of $112 billion, fee-related earnings of $3 billion for the year, and Q4 fee-related earnings of $867 million, up 28% year over year. The Canadian stock traded at about 29 times trailing earnings at writing, so this isn’t a bargain-bin pick. But investors aren’t paying for yesterday’s assets, but for a business that keeps gathering capital in sectors the world badly needs more of, from power to digital infrastructure. The main risk is simple: expectations are high, so execution has to stay sharp.

ENB

Then there’s Enbridge (TSX: ENB), which might be the cleanest example of a sector where Canada still has a real structural edge. The U.S. has plenty of energy companies, but Canada remains unusually strong in long-haul pipeline and utility-style infrastructure that generates dependable cash flow. Enbridge spent the last year doing what it usually does best: expanding its backlog, growing its dividend, and finding ways to move more energy through a system that’s hard to replicate. Its Mainline and Flanagan South expansions also show that demand for Canadian crude transportation is still very real.

Its 2025 results were record-setting. Enbridge reported adjusted EBITDA of $20 billion and distributable cash flow of $12.5 billion, while reaffirming 2026 guidance and growing its secured backlog to $39 billion. The Canadian stock traded around 23 times trailing earnings, which is not cheap for a pipeline name, but investors also get a dividend of $3.88 annualized after a 3% hike for 2026. That mix of income, visibility, and scale is hard to ignore. The risk, of course, is regulation and the usual capital intensity that comes with building giant energy assets. Still, if you want proof that Canada can outperform in the right sector, Enbridge makes a very strong case.

Bottom line

So, yes, Canada can beat the United States in a few important corners of the market — not by copying Silicon Valley, but by owning the less glamorous businesses the world keeps needing anyway. Verde offers speculative nutrient and minerals upside, Brookfield brings global scale in real assets, and Enbridge delivers classic Canadian infrastructure strength. That’s a pretty good reminder that market leadership doesn’t always wear the loudest outfit.