BRAND NEW EPISODE: MID-YEAR REVIEW
Which fund managers made the best calls of the year? Which stocks soared, which ones crashed, and what can investors learn from the biggest surprises of 2026 so far? In this special mid-year review, Amber Kanwar and Executive Producer Jillian Glickman look back at every Pro Pick featured on In the Money over the past year. They reveal the top-performing stocks, the biggest disappointments, and rank the fund managers whose ideas delivered the strongest returns.
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T-minus two days to summer vacation. I’m sorry if it shows. I’ll be taking August off to remind my children they have a mother but I shant be leaving you hanging! We will be launching an innovation series asking the question looming over the country right now: Can Canada Meet the Moment? All month we will be examining what Canada needs to do to get back on track with heavy hitters like Jim Balsillie, Adam Waterous and Michelle Romanow. Paige Ellis will be returning to lead the series! I can’t wait to share it with you!
Here are five things to know today:
Warshed away: Markets did not like the press conference with Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. Stocks were deep in the red. The Fed kept rates unchanged but there were Fed members who dissenting in favour of a rate hike. Warsh stuck to his guns not giving away the next move in rates – but market acted anyway. The 30-year US bond hit the highest level in 19-years – a verdict that the Fed isn’t doing enough to keep inflation in check. For his part, Warsh seemed to believe market pricing was a win. Yields have been rising despite the fact the Fed hasn’t changed interest rates. ” In the inter-meeting period, market attention centered on real data and real economic developments,” said Warsh, “Market participants are learning to play the ball, not the referee—and market prices will continue to respond in the direction and magnitude they see fit. This is, in my view, a change for the better—and we are just getting started.” The markets are recovering this morning with futures indicated higher thanks to Microsoft earnings and resurgence in semiconductor stocks.
Go hard: Microsoft is surging 10% this morning after earnings and sales bested elevated expectations. Microsoft had to show two things this quarter: cloud growth acceleration and higher AI adoption. It did both. It’s cloud business, Azure, soared 43% from last year which is the fastest growth since 2022 with revenue surpassing $100 billion for the first time. Seat adoptions at Copilot, Microsoft’s key AI offering, doubled to 10 million. Microsoft said this would accelerate into the next year. Sure, PC sales struggled but no one cares about that right now. “Microsoft’s strong 4Q26 results offered a solid rebuttal to the bear case,” wrote Citi’s Tyler Radke, “As the AI industry grapples with rapidly evolving questions around open source/smaller models, Microsoft increasingly looks better positioned with a focus on model choice.” I own Microsoft.
Too meta: In contrast to Microsoft, shares of Meta are plunging 10% following quarterly results posted a rare earnings miss and gave a disappointing revenue outlook. To be clear, the top line in the reported quarter grew a healthy 28% but the forecast implies decelerated growth of 23%. Add to that increased AI spending, you get a stock plunging with investors nervous about the payoff. Free cashflow went negative for the first time since 2012 with the company burning through $7 billion in the quarter. Another contrast with Microsoft which had nearly $20 billion in positive free cash this quarter. To be clear, AI is boosting engagement of Meta’s offerings: time spent on Instagram grew double digits from last year and video views on Facebook are up 9% while global average price per ad increased 12%. The world’s most powerful advertising platform is still that. The question for investors right now is can they be more than that? “Essentially, the core
business is doing very well, but AI investments are ramping, and the market wants non-core monetization proof points…and isn’t getting
any,” said Evercore’s Mark Mahaney. He says there was lack of clarity on capex spending for next year, no material update on their frontier models, and waffling on whether they would sell compute power to create a new business line. Still, he is a buyer though he lowered his targets. “Now the question is whether it can deploy AI to create “non-core” products, services and monetization opportunities. We believe this is a reasonable probability, with the odds materially greater than what is implied in the stock’s current 16X P/E multiple.” I own Meta.
Blink: Tourmaline will be in focus today after earnings fell well short of expectations dropping 65% from last year leading the company to pause the buildout for one year of its Northeast BC Monteny buildout between Phase 1 and Phase 2. Tourmaline says this move will enhance free cash flow and shareholder returns. “The pause also allows the Company to assess global natural gas supply, demand, and price outlooks,” Tourmaline said in the statement. It should be noted that overall spending plans remain unchanged. Still the pause is an acknowledgement of the tough environment. “While we acknowledge Tourmaline’s high quality and differentiated business, and admittedly are increasingly constructive, we think it’s currently appreciated by the market with the stock trading at a healthy 2-turn premium to gas-weighted peers and think there may be a better entry point in the next couple quarters,” said Luke Davis of Raymond James. I own this one too.
Mixed bag: Gildan is higher in the pre-market by 3% after its first set of quarterly results since it was targeted by a short-seller. The plain clothes maker reported mixed results with earnings beating, sales missing, a narrower revenue outlook offset by a higher profit outlook. Some of the bottom line benefits stem from tariff related refunds. It also announced it would divest Hanesbrands Australia for nearly $500 million. The asset sale will help pay down debt and could eventually open the door to share buybacks. In June Jehoshaphat Research alleged that Gildan had been artificially inflating its growth narrative through channel stuffing sending the stock plummeting 19%. An hour into the conference call and there has been no mention of it, but there has been an acknowledgement of a cautious retail environment hence the conservative revenue outlook.
Don’t miss our next episode! We launch our Innovation Special: Can Canada Meet the Moment?
