A million dollars. While that may sound like a lot, one tech stock has already produced that kind of return from a reasonable initial investment.
Past returns alone won’t create the next millionaire, though. This tech stock now needs earnings to catch up with its soaring share price, which makes the company’s transformation more important than the chart behind it.
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Consider CLS
So let’s look at Celestica (TSX: CLS), which spent years known mainly as a contract electronics manufacturer. Today, it designs and builds networking equipment, servers, storage systems, and other infrastructure required inside modern data centres.
About $25,000 invested in CLS stock before its extraordinary run could now be worth more than $1 million. That kind of gain can transform a retirement plan, pay off a mortgage, or make checking an old brokerage statement considerably more exciting.
The shift placed CLS stock directly in front of the artificial intelligence (AI) spending boom. Training and running larger AI models requires faster networks, more computing power, and increasingly complex hardware, giving companies across the technology sector a much larger market to serve.
CLS stock doesn’t need to invent the winning chatbot to benefit. It can supply the equipment moving data between processors, which gives investors exposure to AI infrastructure rather than betting everything on one software platform.
The growth is real
First-quarter revenue jumped 53% year over year to US$4.05 billion, while adjusted earnings per share (EPS) climbed 80% to US$2.16. The company’s connectivity and cloud business drove much of that increase as hyper scale customers continued expanding AI data-centre capacity.
Management responded by raising its 2026 revenue outlook to US$19 billion, up from US$17 billion previously. CLS stock also expects adjusted earnings of US$10.15 per share, giving investors a clear reason the business could keep growing after the stock’s initial explosion.
More demand may follow in 2027. CLS stock recently won a program to design and manufacture a high-speed Ethernet switch using advanced optics and liquid cooling for a hyperscale customer, with production expected to begin ramping next year.
More millionaires to come
CLS stock probably won’t repeat its recent return at the same breathtaking speed. Once a company becomes a roughly $50-billion business, every additional doubling requires considerably more revenue, profit, and investor enthusiasm.
Still, millionaire-making investments don’t need to rise 30-fold overnight. A company compounding earnings for another decade can create enormous wealth for investors who build positions gradually, especially when those shares sit inside a TFSA.
CLS stock’s opportunity now stretches beyond one generation of AI hardware. Faster networking, custom computing platforms, defence electronics, aerospace systems, and industrial technology could give the company several paths forward. That is exactly what investors should seek among Canadian growth stocks.
Foolish takeaway
There are a few considerations. The valuation leaves little room for a dull quarter. CLS stock recently traded around 40 times trailing earnings, while its largest customers account for a meaningful portion of sales. Slower AI spending, lost contracts, supply-chain problems, or manufacturing delays could send the shares sharply lower.
That volatility makes gradual buying more sensible than dropping an entire portfolio into the stock after a huge rally. CLS stock could keep creating wealth, but investors still need enough diversification to sleep when technology stocks remember they can fall.
CLS stock’s first wave of millionaires benefited from recognizing its transformation before the market fully caught on. The next group may need more patience, yet rising AI infrastructure demand and a rapidly expanding earnings outlook could keep this Canadian technology leader compounding for years.
