The data centre boom isn’t just about buildings full of servers. It’s about the flood of information those servers store, secure, move, analyze, and connect. That’s why some of the best TSX stocks for the data centre era may not own data centres at all.
OpenText (TSX:OTEX) and Descartes Systems Group (TSX:DSG) both fit that idea. One helps companies manage, protect, and use massive amounts of enterprise information. The other helps businesses move goods, manage logistics, and connect supply chains through cloud software. Both sit close to the digital infrastructure companies now need.
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OTEX
OpenText stock looks like the more obvious value play. The Waterloo-based software company provides information-management, cybersecurity, cloud, content, and business-network tools. In a world where companies are pushing more data into cloud systems and AI workflows, OpenText stock gives them ways to organize, secure, automate, and govern that information.
That’s a real data centre need. Artificial intelligence (AI) only works well when companies can access clean, searchable, secure information. A business with thousands of contracts, customer files, invoices, emails, compliance records, and employee documents can’t just throw that data into an AI tool and hope for the best. It needs information management first.
OpenText stock’s latest numbers show why the stock deserves attention. In the third quarter of fiscal 2026, revenue reached US$1.3 billion. Cloud revenue grew 6.6% year over year, marking the company’s 21st consecutive quarter of cloud organic growth. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) came in at US$438 million, with a 34.1% margin.
The company also declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.28 per share, giving income investors a reason to wait while the cloud and AI strategy develops. The risk is execution. OpenText stock has worked through major acquisitions and leadership change, and investors still want cleaner growth. Debt, integration work, and slower enterprise spending could weigh on the shares. This is not a risk-free dividend tech stock, but one to keep on board for income and growth.
DSG
Descartes is the cleaner growth story. The company provides cloud-based logistics, supply-chain, customs, routing, transportation management, and global trade software. That may not sound like a data centre stock at first, but the data centre era is also an e-commerce, shipping, compliance, and global trade era.
Companies need to know where goods are, how much inventory they have, when shipments will arrive, and whether customs documentation is correct. Descartes helps them do that through a global logistics network and software platform.
The latest results were strong. In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, Descartes reported revenue of US$193.6 million, up from US$168.7 million a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA rose 20% to US$89.8 million, while the adjusted EBITDA margin was 46%, showing how profitable the software model can be. Descartes also had US$377 million in cash at the end of the quarter, giving it room to keep buying smaller companies and expanding its logistics software network.
The risk is valuation. Descartes often trades like a high-quality compounder, so investors may not get a cheap entry point. If growth slows, the stock could pull back. Acquisitions also need to keep adding value.
Bottom line
Both stocks look built for the data centre era in their own way. OpenText stock helps companies manage and protect the data. Descartes helps companies move physical goods through software and connected logistics networks.
For long-term investors, OpenText stock offers value, income, and a cloud turnaround angle. Descartes offers higher-quality growth with a premium price. Together, they give Canadian investors two different ways to invest in the infrastructure behind the digital economy.
