4 Canadian Stocks to Buy and Hold Through 2026

These four Canadian stocks mix recovery, long-term growth, and steady cash flow, giving buy-and-hold investors more balance for 2026.

Amy Legate-Wolfe

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. Before joining Motley Fool Canada, she 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. 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 24, 4:30 pm EDT

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Key Points

A good buy-and-hold stock needs durable demand, strong cash flow, and execution that holds up in rough markets.
Air Canada offers recovery upside at a modest valuation, while MDA and Stantec have backlog-driven growth tied to infrastructure and defence.
Capital Power adds income and power-demand tailwinds, but integration and power-price risk still matter.

10 stocks we like better than Air Canada

A buy-and-hold stock needs more than a good story. It needs a business that can keep growing even when markets get noisy, rates stay awkward, or the economy cools off for a stretch. That usually means strong cash flow, a clear competitive edge, and management that keeps executing. For 2026, I’d also want a mix of industries, because no one theme stays hot forever. The four stocks below look built to keep working through different parts of the cycle.

Hourglass and stock price chart — Source: Getty Images

AC

Air Canada (TSX:AC) looks relevant now because travel demand hasn’t rolled over, and the airline keeps leaning into premium and international routes. It’s Canada’s largest airline, so it gets scale that smaller rivals can’t match. Over the last year, it kept expanding its network, including more Europe and Latin America flying, while management pointed to strong booking momentum heading into 2026.

The numbers look better than many investors probably expected. Air Canada stock posted $22.4 billion in 2025 revenue, $918 million in operating income, and $3.1 billion in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). It also guided for $3.35 billion to $3.75 billion in adjusted EBITDA for 2026. At roughly 10 times earnings with a market cap near $5.8 billion at writing, Air Canada stock still doesn’t look expensive. Debt and economic shocks remain real risks, but for a patient investor, this still looks like a recovery story with room left.

MDA

MDA Space (TSX:MDA) gives investors a rare Canadian way to tap into defence, satellite demand, and the broader space buildout. The company builds robotics, satellite systems, and geo-intelligence tools, and over the last year it kept landing meaningful contracts, including a $32 million Department of National Defence award tied to space surveillance.

In its latest earnings, MDA reported record 2025 revenue of $1.6 billion, up 51%, while adjusted EBITDA climbed 49% to $324 million. Backlog ended the year at $4 billion, and management’s 2026 revenue outlook sits at $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion. The stock isn’t cheap at about 50 times trailing earnings, so that’s the obvious risk. Still, when a company has that kind of backlog and a $40 billion pipeline, the premium starts to make more sense.

STN

Stantec (TSX:STN) is a design and engineering firm with exposure to water, transit, health care, energy transition, and other projects that don’t disappear overnight, offering key resilience. Over the last year, the company kept showing up across major infrastructure work, including 62 projects in ReNew Canada’s 2026 Top100 report.

In 2025, net revenue rose 10.7% to $6.5 billion, adjusted EBITDA reached $1.1 billion, and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) increased 19.9% to $5.30. Backlog hit a record $8.6 billion, and management said 2026 started strongly. At around 29 times earnings, the stock isn’t bargain-bin cheap, but quality rarely is.

CPX

Capital Power (TSX:CPX) gives investors cash flow, electricity demand, and a useful tailwind from data centres and grid expansion. Over the last year, it made a huge move by buying two natural gas assets in the PJM market for about US$2.2 billion, and it also struck a 10-plus-year Alberta electricity supply deal with a data centre developer.

Its 2025 results backed that growth push. Capital Power generated $1.6 billion in adjusted EBITDA and $1.1 billion in adjusted funds from operations (AFFO), while AFFO per share rose to $7.08. The dividend keeps growing too, and the trailing yield sits near 4%. The trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) looks lofty at roughly 77, but that figure gets distorted by accounting noise, so cash flow matters more here. Integration risk and power-price swings are worth watching, but this still looks like a solid hold through 2026.

Bottom line

If you want four Canadian stocks you can tuck away and not fuss over every week, this mix makes a lot of sense. Air Canada stock brings recovery upside, MDA brings growth, Stantec brings stability, and Capital Power brings durable cash flow. Put together, that’s the kind of balanced group that could keep rewarding patient investors through 2026 and well beyond.