As Earnings Season Winds Down, These 3 Canadian Stocks Proved They Could Sit Through the Noise

2026-03-17 15:55:00 ET

As Q4 earnings season winds down, smart investors know to look back at which Canadian stocks made it through the noise without the drama — and ask whether they can do it again next quarter.

A few Canadian stocks tend to stay steadier because they sell essential services, have multiple profit engines, or spread risk so widely that one ugly quarter cannot ruin the story. So let’s look at a few.

RCI

Rogers Communications ( TSX:RCI.B ) can hold up during chaotic earnings seasons because it sells subscription-like services people rarely cancel on impulse. Wireless and Internet bills get paid before plenty of optional spending, and that recurring base matters when confidence dips. Over the last year, Rogers has kept leaning into customer growth and cost discipline, while its sports and media assets added a second gear that can surprise to the upside when it gets a strong run from marquee events and teams.

The latest results show why it can stay resilient even when headlines get dramatic. In Q4 2025, total service revenue rose 16% to $5.25 billion and adjusted EBITDA climbed 6% to $2.689 billion, while free cash flow increased 16% to $1.016 billion. For full-year 2025, service revenue rose 6% to $19.104 billion, adjusted EBITDA reached $9.82 billion, and free cash flow rose 10% to $3.36 billion, with adjusted diluted EPS of $5.02. It also guided 2026 service revenue growth of 3% to 5% and free cash flow of $3.3 billion to $3.5 billion — all while offering a 3.7% yield and trading at 4.24 times earnings.

Rogers is the recurring-revenue anchor of the stocks featured here. Wireless and Internet bills get paid before discretionary spending gets cut, and the sports and media assets give it a second earnings engine that can surprise when the rest of the tape is disappointing.

FFH

Fairfax Financial ( TSX:FFH ) thrives in messy periods as well because it does not rely on one neat narrative. It runs a global insurance platform that can generate underwriting profit, and it pairs that with investing and capital allocation that often gets more interesting when markets wobble. Over the last year, it kept emphasizing underwriting discipline as pricing pressure shows up in some lines, and stayed opportunistic with buybacks when it sees value.

The 2025 numbers were the opposite of messy. Fairfax reported fiscal 2025 net earnings of US$4.772 billion, or US$213.78 per diluted share, and book value per basic share rose to US$1,260.19 at year-end, up 20.5% when adjusted for the US$15 dividend paid earlier in the year. It also delivered a consolidated combined ratio of 93% and record underwriting profit of US$1.8166 billion.

This is the kind of result that can steady nerves when the market starts hunting for landmines. The forward risk is not “bad management.” It’s the normal insurance stuff: catastrophe losses can spike, investment marks can swing, and a softening pricing cycle can make growth harder. But as long as underwriting stays disciplined, Fairfax tends to keep finding ways to win.

Fairfax is the multi-engine pick here — it provides insurance float, underwriting profit, and investment upside in a single holding. When earnings season hunts for single-point failures, Fairfax gives the market very few to find.

XIU

iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF ( TSX:XIU ) is the calmest choice here as it refuses to be a single-company story. When earnings season gets ugly, it is rarely ugly for every large Canadian company at the same time. XIU spreads exposure across the biggest names on the TSX , so one disappointing bank quarter or one energy miss does not dominate your outcome. Over the last year, that “don’t overthink it” diversification has mattered more as sectors take turns being heroes and villains.

For the numbers-and-valuation crowd, XIU also keeps things transparent. It holds about 61 names and charges a 0.18% management expense ratio, which is low enough that it does not quietly eat your returns. Recent data shows a trailing yield around 2.4% and a portfolio P/E near 21, which is a reasonable price for broad Canadian large-cap exposure when you want stability more than fireworks. The main risk is simply market risk: if the whole TSX drops, XIU drops with it. But in a messy earnings tape, that broad exposure can be exactly the defence that helps you stay invested.

XIU is the “stop overthinking it” pick — 61 companies, 0.18% MER, and the simple truth that earnings season is rarely catastrophic for every large Canadian company at once. Sometimes the best move in a messy tape is to own all of them.

Bottom line

The goal in a chaotic earnings season is never to guess which headline hits hardest; it is to own businesses and structures that keep working when emotions run hot. That is the kind of patient, durable investing they teach at Stock Advisor Canada . If that’s how you want to invest, it’s worth becoming a member.

The post As Earnings Season Winds Down, These 3 Canadian Stocks Proved They Could Sit Through the Noise appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada .

Fool contributor Amy Legate-Wolfe has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Fairfax Financial. The Motley Fool recommends Rogers Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .

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