Celestica Raised Its 2026 Revenue Outlook to US$20.5 Billion: I Think the Stock Is a Buy Now

Here’s why Celestica’s growing role in AI infrastructure and its recent pullback make it one of the top Canadian stocks to watch today.

Daniel Da Costa

Author Bio Daniel joined The Motley Fool Canada in 2019 and brings experience in banking, investing, and financial analysis. Growing up as the son of a proprietary stock trader and educator, he developed an early interest in financial markets and a passion for helping Canadians improve their financial well-being. His work spans investment research, economic analysis, and econometric modelling, with a focus on understanding the broader forces that influence businesses, markets, and the economy. As an investor, Daniel looks for high-quality businesses with long-term growth potential, reliable income, and attractive valuations. Outside of finance, Daniel enjoys spending time with his family, playing hockey, running, and sailing. Areas of Expertise Investment research, economic analysis, econometric modelling, banking, financial analysis, business fundamentals, long-term investing, dividend investing, and company valuation. Favorite Investment Quote "It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price." — Warren Buffett

Published October 19, 4:10 pm EDT

When it comes to Canadian growth stocks benefiting from artificial intelligence (AI), there might not be a more intriguing name to watch than Celestica (TSX: CLS).

Celestica has already seen a massive amount of growth in recent years as new data centre projects continue to be announced. But what’s most compelling is that its growth could actually accelerate as the business gets larger, even though that’s often when companies start seeing their growth rates slow.

Building out AI requires far more than just buying chips and creating new software, with a tonne of businesses and specialized equipment needed to make the whole industry work.

For example, data centres need land, power and the computing equipment and networks to handle increasing amounts of information, creating opportunities for companies across several industries.

So, with Celestica forecasting significant growth and considering its shares have been pulling back sharply recently, here’s why I think it’s one of the best Canadian tech stocks to buy today.

The letters AI glowing on a circuit board processor. — Source: Getty Images

Why the company keeps raising its outlook

First off, to understand why Celestica is so intriguing, it helps to look at what it does and the value it offers its customers: companies building and expanding data centres.

For example, it designs and manufactures the networking and computing equipment those facilities need, giving it a direct role in the infrastructure behind AI’s growth.

Plus, its opportunities extend beyond supplying equipment for new facilities, since customers also need to upgrade their existing networks as they handle more data.

In fact, just last week Celestica introduced a new data-centre switch designed to improve power efficiency and support higher volumes of data, helping customers get more out of the infrastructure they’re already building.

That gives Celestica another way to remain valuable to customers as the technology continues to advance and their requirements become more demanding.

Demand for AI infrastructure has already driven impressive growth, with Celestica’s revenue increasing 28% in 2025 and another 62% year over year in the second quarter of 2026.

Furthermore, stronger customer forecasts and improved component supply led management to raise its 2026 revenue outlook to US$20.5 billion from US$19 billion, representing roughly 65% growth over last year.

What makes that growth especially compelling, though, is that Celestica is also becoming more profitable as it expands and scales, with its adjusted operating margin reaching 8.2% in the second quarter, up from 7.4% a year earlier.

Why I think Celestica stock is a buy now

Looking ahead, management expects revenue growth in 2027 to exceed the roughly 65% it forecasts for 2026, due to both strong customer demand and new business wins.

So, Celestica expects its growth to accelerate even as the business gets larger, and with management also forecasting higher profit margins, earnings have room to grow even faster than sales.

Of course, supporting that expansion requires capital, which is why Celestica raised roughly US$3.5 billion in August by issuing shares to help fund investments and working capital.

So, while that increased the share count and initially weighed on the stock, it also gave Celestica more financial flexibility to expand alongside its customers and meet rapidly growing demand.

And after the recent pullback, Celestica trades at roughly 20.4 times its expected earnings over the next 12 months, below its three-year average of 25.3 times and well below the high of 47.7 times it reached during that stretch.

That makes its current valuation look compelling considering its prospects for growth in the coming months and years.

AI still has a tonne of long-term growth potential, with new projects continuing to be announced and Celestica supplying equipment that some of the biggest players in the industry need.

That’s why I think it’s one of the best Canadian growth stocks to buy today. You’re getting a reasonably priced company that’s already delivering impressive results, with growing sales and improving profitability giving it room to become considerably more valuable over the long haul.