A tenfold return sounds like the sort of number that requires a crystal ball, suspiciously good luck, or a time machine pointed toward Amazon’s IPO. Yet turning $20,000 into $200,000 doesn’t require finding tomorrow’s winning lottery ticket. It requires time, compounding, and companies capable of growing long after the initial excitement fades.
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Getting there
At a 15% average annual return, $20,000 would become approximately $200,000 after 16.5 years. Lower the return to 12% and the journey takes slightly more than 20 years. Neither path will resemble a tidy escalator. Growth stocks can deliver wonderful years, dreadful years, and occasional years that make investors question every life decision since breakfast.
A potential ten-bagger therefore needs more than a fashionable industry. Revenue must expand, profit margins should improve, and management must avoid drowning shareholders in debt or dilution. Valuation also counts. Even an exceptional company can become an underwhelming investment when investors pay for the next decade before lunch.
Dividing the original investment equally would place $10,000 in each company. The combined portfolio, rather than every holding individually, needs to reach $200,000. Investors shouldn’t commit money they’ll need soon, and these stocks belong beside a diversified foundation of Canadian growth stocks. With those sensible shoes attached, two businesses have particularly enormous runways.
Celestica
Artificial intelligence (AI) may live in the cloud, but the cloud requires an alarming amount of physical equipment. Celestica (TSX:CLS) designs and manufactures networking switches, servers, storage systems, and other hardware used by hyperscalers and data-centre operators. It also serves aerospace, defence, healthcare, and industrial customers, providing some diversification beyond AI.
Demand has shifted from promising to slightly bonkers. Celestica stock’s second-quarter revenue climbed 62% year over year to US$4.7 billion, powered largely by its communications and cloud business. Management raised its 2026 outlook again and now expects adjusted earnings per share (EPS) to increase 87% for the year. It also anticipates revenue growth accelerating beyond 2026’s expected 65% during 2027.
Celestica stock earns more as customers deploy increasingly complex AI computing and networking systems. Rising production can also spread costs across more equipment, helping margins expand. The catch is valuation. Shares trade around 29 times management’s 2026 adjusted earnings forecast after converting it into Canadian dollars. That price demands continued excellence.
MDA Space
The next candidate has considerably farther to travel. MDA Space (TSX:MDA) builds satellites, space robotics, antennas, and Earth-observation technology. Its heritage includes the Canadarm, while its future increasingly revolves around large satellite constellations providing broadband, defence communications, and direct-to-device connectivity.
MDA ended its first quarter with a $3.7 billion backlog, giving the company years of contracted work. Its opportunity grew again in August when Telesat expanded MDA’s Lightspeed satellite contract by $474 million. Most of that increase should enter backlog during the third quarter, turning Canada’s defence and connectivity ambitions into additional manufacturing revenue.
The stock carries a market capitalization near $7 billion, or roughly four times the midpoint of management’s 2026 revenue outlook. That isn’t bargain-bin territory, although it remains small enough for sustained satellite demand, international defence spending, and new constellation wins to transform the business. Investors researching the mechanics of buying stocks in Canada should still build the position gradually.
Foolish takeaway
There’s likely to be turbulence on this runway. Celestica depends heavily on large customers whose AI spending could slow, while component shortages or program delays could squeeze margins. MDA must execute complex, capital-intensive contracts without cost overruns. A delayed constellation, cancelled order, or poorly managed expansion could punish either stock, and both could experience stomach-churning declines along the way.
Still, a $10,000 position in each company wouldn’t need overnight heroics. It would need Celestica to keep supplying AI’s physical backbone, MDA to capture a larger slice of the space economy, and investors to remain patient while earnings catch up with the ambition. That combination could eventually turn $20,000 into $200,000, although the journey may involve considerably more turbulence than the destination suggests.
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