AtkinsRéalis posted a first-quarter revenue beat driven by strength in its nuclear business, as investors continue debating the durability of technology stock valuations amid rising AI disruption concerns. Growing electricity demand tied to AI and industrial reshoring is also increasing attention on nuclear and other baseload energy sources.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Rebecca Teltscher, portfolio manager at Newhaven Asset Management, about why she favours companies tied to hard assets such as pipelines, utilities and nuclear infrastructure, and why she remains cautious on parts of the technology sector despite the Nasdaq’s recent rebound.
Key Takeaways
- AtkinsRéalis has significantly outperformed several engineering peers this year, supported by continued demand for nuclear expertise and infrastructure.
- Rising electricity demand tied to AI, data centres and industrial reshoring is strengthening the case for nuclear and natural gas investment.
- Some investors remain cautious on software and technology stocks because of concerns AI could disrupt existing business models.
- Shopify and Constellation Software were highlighted as examples of Canadian tech companies that have faced sharp share-price declines amid volatility.
- Hard-asset businesses such as pipelines, utilities and nuclear infrastructure are viewed as offering stronger downside protection and more stable long-term value.
Read the full transcript below:
LINDSAY: AtkinsRéalis reported a beat in revenue yesterday, led by growth in nuclear, and here to talk about that and more is Rebecca Teltscher, portfolio manager at Newhaven Asset Management. It’s great to have you join us.
REBECCA: Hi, nice to have you. Nice to see you as well.
LINDSAY: Yeah, great to see you. So we’ll start with AtkinsRéalis and the latest quarterly results coming out. What stood out to you, I guess, first of all, in this latest earnings report?
REBECCA: Yeah, I think the beat was really only due to its exposure to nuclear. I think if you compare the results of AtkinsRéalis relative to the other engineering firms, I mean, you see a stark difference in the performance. I mean, WSP is down more than 20 per cent. Same with Stantec, same with AECOM in the United States. AtkinsRéalis is the only one that’s been able to maintain — you know, it’s only down, I think, five per cent year to date — and it’s just showing that strength in nuclear. Like, that seems to be the crown jewel and, you know, it seems to be one of the main sectors in the engineering space that has these hard assets.
So AtkinsRéalis is the original equipment manufacturer and exclusive licence holder for the CANDU reactors. They have that end-to-end engineering and management across the entire nuclear lifecycle, so basically any new nuclear growth or deal is going to have some exposure for AtkinsRéalis. And so I think that’s why the stock is reacting more positively versus the other engineering firms that are facing weakness from this whole AI disruption.
LINDSAY: For sure. And obviously, as you say, most of that strength is coming from the nuclear side of things because nuclear demand right now is quite high. It seems to be only going higher. Is that positive, I guess, for the further outlook for AtkinsRéalis moving forward?
REBECCA: Depends on what your views of nuclear are. So for us, I mean, we’re pretty positive. I mean, if you look at the technology space, you know, all of this AI — I don’t know who the winners and losers of AI are going to be. I know they all require a lot of power, and the increase in power demand, and we’re seeing that, and that increase in power demand is real.
As much as I want that new power to be coming from renewables, unfortunately we don’t yet have the technology to efficiently store renewable power, at least in a large-scale efficient way. So in the meantime, we need reliable baseload energy, and so for us, in our opinion, that’s going to be coming from nuclear and natural gas, and so as a result we have exposure to both.
We don’t own AtkinsRéalis in particular because valuations have been very high, the dividend yield has been low. What we did own, or do own, is shares of Aecon. And so Atkins and Aecon, they kind of work together. One of them provides the engineering, the other one does the actual physical construction. We’ve owned Aecon for years. We owned it when it was yielding six per cent because we like the nuclear exposure.
We also own Brookfield Renewable, that has a large ownership in Westinghouse that does the nuclear refurbishments as well. So for us, we do think that there is further growth in the nuclear space. I know others maybe feel differently, but in the meantime, I mean, the surge in power demand is real, whether it’s going to be from growth in AI, growth in data centres, growth in reshoring and bringing manufacturing back home, or just replacing coal plants with less emission-based baseload energy. So we do think nuclear has a place.
LINDSAY: I want to move on now and take a look at the markets, because the Nasdaq is up 12 per cent in the past month alone. Obviously, it’s a different story today. We’re seeing a bit of a selloff, but you say the recent resurgence in optimism is surprising when it comes to the markets. Why do you feel that way?
REBECCA: You know, many reasons. Anyone who’s followed me knows I’ve been skeptical of the technology space for a long time — for better or for worse. Because at the end of the day, yeah, we missed out on 12 per cent performance this month, but I’m okay with that.
I think what we’ve seen in the past year is just how vulnerable the tech sector can be to swings in volatility, whether it’s from valuation compression or if it’s from legitimate fears. So look at what happened to the software stocks since the beginning of the year. They’re down at least 20 per cent because of, again, that AI disruption fear, similar to what the engineering firms that we spoke about earlier are facing.
Let’s look at the two largest tech darlings in Canada. Shopify is down 36 per cent year to date. Constellation Software is down 20 per cent year to date and down 48 per cent over the past year. Constellation Software has other issues as well, but I think a lot of it is that fear or that market anxiety that AI is going to disrupt the software space.
So I think it shows just how vulnerable these stocks are to news that comes out, and it also shows, at the end of the day, what the valuation is backed by. And for a lot of these software companies, it’s 100 per cent goodwill or intellectual property.
I think a lot of the reason why investors liked the technology space for the past 10 years is because they were asset-light, and asset-light companies generally will generate higher returns because they don’t have hard assets. For us, we’ve always migrated toward harder assets, real assets, for example pipelines and utilities. And yes, while that growth may not be — we’re not expecting these names to double in a year — we prefer that solid, steady growth, that hard asset that’s backed by true value.
Often these assets are irreplaceable. No one is going to show up and start building a new utility distribution network when one already exists. As much as I can wish that it’s not going to happen, no one’s going to be putting a new pipeline in the ground in Canada in the next year or so. So the pipes that are already in the ground are pretty much irreplaceable.
So for us, we prefer the value of hard assets, and I think we’re starting to see the vulnerability that you can have with soft assets that you don’t have with hard assets. I don’t think anyone is worried that AI is going to disrupt the pipeline or utility space.
LINDSAY: Okay, we’ll have to leave it there. Rebecca Teltscher, portfolio manager at Newhaven Asset Management, appreciate your time. Thanks so much.
REBECCA: Thank you so much.
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the May 15, 2026 interview with Rebecca Teltscher are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
