Celestica Stock: Why This AI Data Centre Play Just Topped the TSX for a Second Straight Year

Celestica stock has delivered an extraordinary three-year run, driven by surging demand for AI and data-centre infrastructure. Despite its massive gains, Celestica’s latest results and upgraded outlook suggest its growth story has further to run.

Kay Ng

Author Bio Kay graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and furthered her studies in financial markets, finance, and financial accounting. She began investing in dividend stocks in 2008, turning an early interest into a lasting passion. Over the years, Kay has refined her investment approach to focus on high-quality businesses, using fundamental analysis and valuation to identify long-term investment opportunities. Her investment research and articles have been featured in The Motley Fool, Sure Dividend, and Seeking Alpha. Outside of investing, Kay enjoys playing the piano, from popular songs learned by ear to challenging classical compositions. Her favourites include Fantaisie-Impromptu by Frédéric Chopin and La Campanella by Franz Liszt. Education Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Computer Science, University of British Columbia Further studies in financial markets, finance, and financial accounting Areas of Expertise Dividend stocks, fundamental analysis, company valuation, quality investing, long-term investing, business fundamentals, and identifying investment opportunities in high-quality companies. Social Media Profiles LinkedIn Favorite Investment Quotes “The best way to measure your investing success is not by whether you’re beating the market but by whether you’ve put in place a financial plan and a behavioral discipline that are likely to get you where you want to go.” — Benjamin Graham “A market downturn doesn’t bother us. It is an opportunity to increase our ownership of great companies with great management at good prices.” — Warren Buffett

Published September 15, 9:00 pm EDT

Last week, the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) announced its annual ranking of the 30 top-performing companies based on three-year dividend-adjusted share price performance. For the second consecutive year, Celestica (TSX: CLS) claimed the top spot.

This is an extraordinary achievement. Over three years, Celestica’s dividend-adjusted share price soared 2,590%. To put it in perspective, a $1,000 investment would have grown to roughly $26,900.

Even more impressive is the company’s transformation in scale. In this three-year period, Celestica’s market capitalization increased from approximately $1.9 billion to $59.5 billion as of June 30, 2026. The question for investors now is whether this remarkable Canadian growth stock still has room to run.

AI image of a face with chips — Scource: Getty Images

AI infrastructure is powering the growth

Celestica is a global electronics manufacturing and supply chain services company, but its biggest opportunity today lies in its Connectivity & Cloud Solutions (CCS) segment.

CCS builds the hardware infrastructure that supports artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and increasingly powerful data centres. Demand has been exceptional. In the first half of 2026, CCS revenue jumped 80% year over year to US$7 billion, compared with 28% growth in the same period in 2025. Its segment margin also expanded to approximately 8.65%, from 8.16%.

Celestica’s Advanced Technology Solutions (ATS) segment provides stability. It serves highly regulated, mission-critical industries, including aerospace and defence, industrial and smart energy, medical devices, and semiconductor capital equipment. ATS revenue increased approximately 4.3% to US$1.7 billion in the first half of the year, while its margin improved to about 6.16% from 5.15%.

Together, these businesses helped drive consolidated revenue up approximately 58% to US$8.8 billion and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) up 81% to US$4.70 year over year.

Is Celestica stock still a buy?

The strongest argument for Celestica may be that management recently raised expectations.

Following its second-quarter results in late July, the company increased its 2026 outlook. It now expects revenue of US$20.5 billion, adjusted EPS of US$11.30, an adjusted operating margin of 8.4%, and free cash flow of US$600 million.

That compares with previous forecasts of US$19 billion in revenue, US$10.15 in adjusted EPS, an 8.1% operating margin, and US$500 million of free cash flow.

Management also expects revenue growth to accelerate in 2027, exceeding the 65% growth rate anticipated for 2026. More importantly, adjusted EPS is expected to grow faster than revenue.

At roughly $448 per share at writing, Celestica trades at about 28 times forward earnings. This isn’t traditionally cheap, but valuation needs to be considered alongside its extraordinary growth prospects. The analyst consensus price target also points to substantial near-term upside potential of about 43%.

Celestica has already delivered spectacular returns, and the stock has corrected roughly 30% from its highs in June. For investors seeking exposure to the AI infrastructure boom, this pullback could make this Canadian growth stock worth a closer look.

The key risk, of course, is that expectations are now extremely high. Any news of a cut in its growth expectations could drive the stock downwards. But with AI data-centre demand accelerating and management raising its forecasts, Celestica appears to be poised for growth.