2 Canadian Companies Are Cashing In on AI — Not Just Talking About it

These Canadian companies are converting AI driven demand into strong revenue, earnings, and recurring cash flow.

| More on:
Key Points
  • Kinaxis is turning AI into recurring revenue, with strong Maestro-driven growth, rising subscriptions, larger deals, and record customer expansion.
  • Celestica is benefiting directly from the AI infrastructure boom, with its Connectivity & Cloud Solutions revenue surging on strong demand for networking and computing technology.
  • Both companies have significant growth opportunities ahead, as AI adoption drives more complex supply chains and continued investment in data centre infrastructure.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the biggest themes in the stock market. However, for investors, the key question is which companies are actually converting AI into revenue, earnings, and recurring cash flow.

While corporate announcements continue to highlight ambitious AI strategies and future opportunities, relatively few companies can point to clear financial results directly tied to their AI capabilities.

Against this backdrop, here are two Canadian companies that are cashing in on AI and not just talking about it.

Digital brain hologram on future tech background. Productivity of AI evolution

Source: Getty Images

Top AI stock #1: Kinaxis

Kinaxis (TSX:KXS) is a top Canadian stock cashing in on AI. The company provides end-to-end supply chain planning and orchestration through its AI-powered Maestro platform. As supply chains are becoming complex, companies need AI to improve forecasting, inventory management, and capacity planning. Kinaxis is well positioned in this market.

Kinaxis has delivered eight consecutive quarters of rising revenue, supported by new Maestro subscriptions and customer deployments. Its latest results showed strong new-business momentum. Growth came from both new customer wins and expansions within its existing customer base. Moreover, the average deal size is growing.

For instance, its average deal size nearly doubled year over year, while contracts generating more than $1 million in average annual contract value (ACV) jumped significantly. In addition, quarterly ACV bookings from existing customers reached a company record, increasing by more than 70% year over year.

Much of the company’s momentum is driven by the expanding capabilities of Maestro. The platform now incorporates technologies including agentic AI, machine-learning-based demand forecasting, advanced inventory optimization, and enterprise scheduling. These capabilities allow Kinaxis to address an increasingly broad range of supply-chain challenges.

Kinaxis’s Software as a Service (SaaS) revenue increased 20% year over year in Q2, while annual recurring revenue (ARR) climbed 19%. Meanwhile, Kinaxis’s adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 100 basis points to 26%.

Kinaxis could also benefit from a surge in data centre investment. The expansion of AI infrastructure is creating increasingly complex global supply chains. Several customers in the high-tech supply chain are already using Maestro, creating additional demand for Kinaxis.

Overall, Kinaxis’s double-digit recurring-revenue growth, strong customer expansion, improving deal economics, and expanding AI capabilities position it well to deliver solid growth.

Top AI stock #2: Celestica

Celestica (TSX:CLS) is another top Canadian stock cashing in on the AI infrastructure boom.  The data centre infrastructure and advanced technology solutions provider continues to deliver solid growth, with its Connectivity & Cloud Solutions (CCS) segment emerging as a key catalyst.

CCS offers a broad range of technologies, including high-performance networking switches, server platforms, data centre interconnect solutions, enterprise storage, and edge computing infrastructure, all supporting the growing demands of AI workloads.

The business delivered solid growth in Q2. CCS revenue jumped 84% year over year to US$3.8 billion, representing approximately 81% of Celestica’s overall revenue. Communications revenue within the segment increased 62%, supported by robust demand for 800G networking switches and continued strength in 400G products. Meanwhile, Enterprise revenue surged 167%, helped by the rapid rollout of AI and machine-learning computing initiatives for a major hyperscale customer, as well as stronger demand for storage technologies.

Celestica also has several potential growth drivers ahead. Increasing adoption of 800G networking, the upcoming commercialization of 1.6-terabit networking solutions, a recovery in enterprise storage demand, and continued investment by hyperscalers in AI and machine-learning infrastructure could all contribute to further expansion. With these trends working in its favor, Celestica appears well-positioned to capitalize on the long-term AI infrastructure opportunity.

Fool contributor Sneha Nahata has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Celestica and Kinaxis. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

More on Tech Stocks

Rocket lift off through the clouds
Tech Stocks

Why MDA Stock Jumped 16% Last Week

A $474 million contract boost sent MDA soaring because backlog turns future revenue from a guess into a signed plan.

Read more »

space ship model takes off
Tech Stocks

MDA vs. SpaceX: How a Canadian Space Stock Can Still Win

A fresh $474-million satellite order is strengthening MDA’s “picks-and-shovels” space thesis without trying to out-SpaceX SpaceX.

Read more »

boy in bowtie and glasses gives positive thumbs up
Tech Stocks

Analysts Agree: These Canadian Stocks Are Strong Buys

Two “Strong Buy” Canadian stocks are getting near-unanimous analyst love, but only one still looks reasonably priced.

Read more »

some investments are riskier than others
Tech Stocks

This Trillion-Dollar AI Stock Offers Better Quantum Computing Exposure Than IonQ, Rigetti, or D-Wave at a Multi-Year Valuation Low

Microsoft offers a lower-risk way to invest in the future of quantum computing by combining established AI and cloud leadership…

Read more »

The letters AI glowing on a circuit board processor.
Tech Stocks

Here’s Why These Canadian AI Infrastructure Builders Matter

Explore the future of AI infrastructure and discover how hyperscalers impact investment and growth in artificial intelligence.

Read more »

Happy golf player walks the course
Tech Stocks

Lightspeed Stock Plunged 13% After Earnings: Is the Turnaround Finally a Buy?

A 13% earnings-day drop may be giving investors a second look at Lightspeed’s improving, post-divestiture turnaround story.

Read more »

abstract wave
Tech Stocks

1 Magnificent Canadian Tech Stock Down 28% to Buy and Hold Forever

A 28% pullback in Descartes may offer patient investors a cheaper shot at a sticky, high-margin logistics software winner.

Read more »

young people stare at smartphones
Dividend Stocks

1 Canadian Stock Down 42% to Buy Now for Lifelong Income

TELUS’s painful 55% dividend cut may have turned a shaky payout into a more sustainable 5.6% yield.

Read more »