We recently published a list of 10 Undervalued Canadian Stocks to Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) stands against other undervalued Canadian stocks to buy now.
Q1 2025 saw some challenges to the financial markets, primarily because of trade issues, says Sun Life (a Canadian-based international financial services company). The US decided to impose extra taxes, known as tariffs, on goods coming from numerous countries, including Canada. This move impacted the investors’ sentiments as to how it might slow down business and economic growth, not only in Canada but globally. The firm noted that Canada’s economy remains strong, and the BoC is no longer concerned with inflation. It lowered the interest rate by 50 bps to 2.75% as an effort to manage the economic impact of US tariffs.
Current State of Canada’s Economy
Canada’s economy strengthened at the end of 2024, says Sun Life, thanks to the lower interest rates. That being said, the markets remain nervous about economic strength. As per the firm, Canada’s economy saw a growth of 2.6%, annualized over Q4 2024. Consumer spending acted as the critical growth driver. Also, reduced interest rates aided in driving consumer spending. The country’s economy also benefited from the stronger exports.
The firm also highlighted that Canada’s unemployment rate sat at 6.6% as of February. BoC decided to reduce rates in part because of the improving labour market. Notably, Canadian equities touched a new high early in the quarter. Talking about the sectors, the Materials and Utilities sectors were tagged as the strongest performers. However, the Health Care and IT sectors saw the weakest returns.
READ ALSO: 7 Best Stocks to Buy For Long-Term and 8 Cheap Jim Cramer Stocks to Invest In.
What’s Next for Canadian Equities?
Bloomberg, while quoting Scotiabank, mentioned that Canada’s stock markets are expected to outperform after avoiding the worst of Trump’s tariffs. Scotia Capital Inc. provided a double upgrade to Canadian equities, from “Underweight” to “Overweight,” with analysts highlighting that both Canada and Mexico have managed to dodge the bullet in the escalating trade war. As per Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Gillian Wolff and Gina Martin Adams, TSX valuations are low relative to pre-pandemic levels, which offer a buffer against economic volatility and trade war.
The analysts at Scotia Capital Inc. believe that the escalating trade war announcement is negative for the US and the rest of the world. Scotiabank has dropped emerging market equities to “Underweight” from “Neutral,” mentioned Bloomberg.
Our Methodology
To list the 10 Undervalued Canadian Stocks to Buy Now, we used a screener to shortlist Canadian companies that trade at a forward P/E of less than ~20.0x. Next, we mentioned hedge fund sentiment around each stock, as of Q4 2024, and ranked them in ascending order of this metric.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A driverless train traversing vast countryside, illustrating the companies long-distance rail transport services.
Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI)
Forward P/E as of April 4: ~17.3x
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 56
Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) is engaged in the rail, intermodal, trucking, and related transportation businesses. The company’s strategic position in North American trade corridors offers it ample opportunities to benefit from dynamic trade patterns. With businesses continuing to reassess the supply chains, potentially supporting nearshoring or friendshoring strategies, Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI)’s cross-border capabilities can be increasingly valuable. Also, the strong focus on sustainability and environmental concerns can bolster its strengths.
Notably, rail transportation tends to be generally more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly versus the long-haul trucking. With companies and governments prioritizing to reduce carbon footprints, the company can see improved demand for its services as a more sustainable option. Moving forward, Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI)’s key strengths are likely to fuel its performance. These include its advantaged three-coast network with port optionality and unrivaled bypass capability around Chicago, and technology deployments (which remains a strategic value driver), among others. Also, the potential for economic recovery and growth in critical sectors, including automotive, energy, and consumer goods, can fuel increased freight volumes. Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI)’s diverse portfolio of services, together with its broad geographic coverage, places it well to tap growth opportunities.
Appalaches Capital, an investment management firm, released its Q3 2024 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:
“During the quarter, we established core positions in two railroads: Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI) and CSX Corporation (CSX). The investment thesis is simple. Domestic railroads have not seen volume growth over the last 20 years despite being the cheapest, cleanest, and safest form of freight transportation.4 The lack of volume growth and related share losses to trucking is due to the poor reliability of the networks. However, there is strong evidence to believe that this may not be the case going forward. It seems that investors are overweighting historical characteristics of the industry and not giving credit to recent and sustainable improvements in service metrics. If the rails are able to show any sign of sustained volume growth, our investment should perform very well.
The Canadian railroads have more or less operated at full capacity over the last two decades, while the U.S. networks have not. Why is that? There are a few reasons for the anemic volume growth domestically, but only one of which is not shared by the Canadian railroads: service. In 2017, had you shipped goods by rail in Canada, the odds that your shipment would arrive on time, or the “trip plan compliance” rate, was around 90% or higher. In the U.S., these levels were closer to 50%.5 Maybe you have a different opinion, but I am not particularly excited about using a shipping service that only has a coin flip’s chance of arriving on time, even if it may be more economical…” (Click here to read the full text)
Overall, CNI ranks 1st on our list of undervalued Canadian stocks to buy now. While we acknowledge the potential of CNI as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued AI stock that is more promising than CNI but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.