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What this page is: Delvantic's full research page for Stantec Inc. (STN) — AI-driven forensic equity research: mechanical valuation models (DCF, EPV, anchored-PE, scenario) plus three independent AI lenses (Quality / Value / Sentiment). Everything below is rendered server-side; you are not missing content that requires JavaScript. All scores are predictions and research opinions, not financial advice.
Our current read (analysis of 2026-08-23): Designation Watch · Gem Score +0 (−100…+100 Quality+Value blend) · Quality 65 · Value -53 · Sentiment 24 (timing only, not weighted) · Composite fair value $55.27 vs $70.49 at analysis
Page map (sections in order; each card carries a stable
reference-name attribute you can cite):
profile-header/price-overview— company profile, live quote, market capextended-analysis— the core: three AI lens reads with findings, scores, and the analyst memofuture-predictions— our forward price-band predictionsmarket-narrative/ai-findings/gpt-critique— narrative context, cross-model findings, and an adversarial critique of our own analysis (near the end of the document)- Members-only sections (render as login gates for anonymous readers):
price-history,income-trend,key-metrics,financials(statement tables),insider-trading. The analysis above is public; the raw data tables require a free account.
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any ticker resolves at delvantic.com/stock/TICKER ·
raw inputs are public-company filings and market data (via licensed data feeds);
every model, score, lens read, and prediction on this page is Delvantic's own analysis.
Stantec Inc.
STN NYSEStantec Inc. is a globally recognized provider of professional services in the design and consulting industry. With a comprehensive portfolio that spans across multiple sectors, its primary function is to offer engineering, architectural, environmental, and project management services. Stantec specializes in delivering sustainable projects, focusing on infrastructure, community development, and natural resource management. The company's work impacts various industries including water, urban development, energy, and transportation, showcasing its commitment to innovative and practical solutions. Headquartered in Edmonton, Canada, and operating in over 400 locations worldwide, Stantec plays a crucial role in shaping and enhancing public and private environments. It is esteemed for its contribution to infrastructure projects that prioritize sustainability and community benefit, reinforcing its significance in the market as a leader in integrating design expertise with socio-environmental needs.
Price Overview
Price History (1 Year)
Revenue & Net Income Trend
Stantec Inc. is a foreign private issuer — it reports to the U.S. SEC once a year (on Form 20-F or 40-F) rather than filing the quarterly statements (10-Q) that U.S.-domiciled companies must submit. Our financial statements are read directly from SEC filings, so for this company only annual figures exist at the source.
This is a property of how the company files, not missing or broken data — its filing history shows 10 annual reports, the latest filed 2026-02-25, and no quarterly filings . The company may still publish quarterly results on its own investor-relations site.
| Period | Revenue | Net Income | Net Margin | YoY/QoQ |
|---|
Key Metrics
EPS (Diluted): 3.00
Total Equity: $2.31B
Shares: 114,066,995
Total Debt: $1.30B
Cash: $283.94M
EBITDA: N/A
Total Debt: $1.30B
Cash: $283.94M
Revenue: $5.81B
Revenue: $5.81B
Revenue: $5.81B
Total Equity: $2.31B
Tax Rate: 23.9%
Equity: $2.31B
Total Debt: $1.30B
Cash: $283.94M
Current Liabilities: $1.62B
Long-Term Debt: $1.09B
Total Debt: $1.30B
Total Equity: $2.31B
Shares: 114,066,995
Shares: 114,066,995
CapEx: $0.00
Shares: 114,066,995
Stock Price: $70.49
Net Income: $341.93M
Industry Benchmarks
Income Statement (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 2, 2026 1:15pm (21d ago)| Metric | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $3.3B | $4.0B | $4.6B | $5.3B | $5.8B |
| Cost of Revenue | $1.2B | $1.5B | $1.7B | — | — |
| Gross Profit | $1.4B | $1.7B | $2.0B | — | — |
| Operating Expenses | — | — | — | — | — |
| Operating Income | — | — | — | — | — |
| Net Income | $143.1M | $176.2M | $236.2M | $257.8M | $341.9M |
| EBITDA | — | — | — | — | — |
| EPS | $1.28 | $1.59 | $2.13 | $2.26 | $3.00 |
| EPS (Diluted) | $1.28 | $1.58 | $2.13 | $2.26 | $3.00 |
Balance Sheet (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 2, 2026 1:15pm (21d ago)| Metric | 2022 | 2023 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash & Equivalents | $105.8M | $105.8M | $105.8M | $163.0M | $283.9M |
| Total Current Assets | $1.4B | $1.4B | $1.4B | $1.8B | $2.0B |
| Total Assets | $4.0B | $3.8B | $3.8B | $5.0B | $5.7B |
| Current Liabilities | $1.0B | $1.0B | $1.0B | $1.4B | $1.6B |
| Long-Term Debt | $844.2M | $825.3M | $825.3M | $862.0M | $1.1B |
| Total Liabilities | $2.4B | $2.4B | $2.4B | $2.9B | $3.4B |
| Total Equity | $1.6B | $1.4B | $1.4B | $2.1B | $2.3B |
| Retained Earnings | $823.7M | — | — | — | — |
Cash Flow (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 2, 2026 1:15pm (21d ago)| Metric | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating Cash Flow | $283.2M | $217.0M | $388.5M | $430.2M | $615.5M |
| Capital Expenditure | -$32.7M | -$48.9M | — | — | — |
| Free Cash Flow | $250.5M | $168.2M | — | — | — |
| Acquisitions (net) | -$501.1M | -$35.9M | -$53.9M | -$395.8M | -$323.8M |
| Net Debt Issued / (Repaid) | — | — | — | — | — |
| Dividends Paid | -$51.6M | -$55.8M | -$60.6M | -$67.0M | -$72.0M |
| Stock Buybacks | — | — | — | — | — |
| Net Change in Cash | -$70.0M | -$27.4M | $145.9M | -$88.7M | $121.0M |
Growth Trends (YoY %)
Last updated: Aug 2, 2026 1:15pm (21d ago)| Metric | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue Growth | +24.0% | +14.1% | +15.7% | +8.6% |
| Gross Profit Growth | +23.1% | +13.5% | — | — |
| Operating Income Growth | — | — | — | — |
| Net Income Growth | +23.1% | +34.1% | +9.1% | +32.6% |
| EBITDA Growth | — | — | — | — |
Dividend History (Last 20)
Last updated: Aug 2, 2026 1:15pm (21d ago)| Date | Dividend | Declaration | Record | Payment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-30 | $0.17 | — | — | — |
| 2026-03-31 | $0.18 | — | — | — |
| 2025-06-30 | $0.16 | — | — | — |
| 2025-03-28 | $0.16 | — | — | — |
| 2024-12-31 | $0.15 | — | — | — |
| 2024-09-27 | $0.16 | — | — | — |
| 2024-06-28 | $0.15 | — | — | — |
| 2024-03-27 | $0.16 | — | — | — |
| 2023-12-28 | $0.15 | — | — | — |
| 2023-09-28 | $0.14 | — | — | — |
| 2023-06-29 | $0.15 | — | — | — |
| 2023-03-30 | $0.14 | — | — | — |
| 2022-12-29 | $0.13 | — | — | — |
| 2022-09-28 | $0.13 | — | — | — |
| 2022-06-29 | $0.14 | — | — | — |
| 2022-03-30 | $0.14 | — | — | — |
| 2021-12-30 | $0.13 | — | — | — |
| 2021-09-28 | $0.13 | — | — | — |
| 2021-06-29 | $0.13 | — | — | — |
| 2021-03-30 | $0.13 | — | — | — |
Deep Analysis
Narrative Economics
market-narrative step).
Claude Reading
Starting from the raw numbers: revenue has compounded from $3.26B (2021) to $5.81B (2025), a 15.5% CAGR — the 12.1% figure in the momentum block understates it slightly. Net income went from $143M to $342M, a 24% CAGR, so earnings growth is genuinely outrunning the top line and net margin has expanded from 4.4% to 5.9%. Operating cash flow of $615M against an $8.04B market cap is a ~7.7% OCF yield, and with capex for an asset-light consultancy typically running $50-80M, FCF yield is probably 6.5-7%. Debt/equity of 0.56 and $1.30B total debt against $615M OCF is unremarkable — roughly 2x OCF, easily serviced. ROE of 14.8% is respectable but not exceptional for a services firm using modest leverage. This is a clean, cash-generative compounder growing double-digits.
On valuation: 23.5x trailing P/E and 1.38x sales for a business growing earnings 20%+ isn't obviously expensive — PEG is roughly 1.1x. EV/revenue of 1.56x and EV/OCF of ~13.6x are reasonable for engineering services; peer TTEK trades meaningfully richer. The synthesis verdict of $62.81 fair value (implying 11% downside) looks conservative to me — it appears to weight mean-reversion in margins and growth too heavily. If 2026 delivers even 8% revenue growth and flat margins, that's ~$370M NI, and 22x on that is $80+. The bear case for margin compression is real (labor costs in consulting are the whole cost structure), but there's no evidence of it in the 2025 print — margins expanded. I think fair value sits closer to $72-78, meaning the stock is roughly fairly priced, not overvalued.
Where I'd push back on the prior models: the "Market Forces" flag about "debt stress" and "government dependency" reads as boilerplate risk-flagging — $1.3B of debt against $615M OCF is not stress, and government infrastructure exposure has been a tailwind, not a liability, through the IIJA cycle. The synthesis calling this "vulnerable to disappointment" because "market prices in more growth than projected" is circular if the projection itself is too conservative given a 15.5% revenue CAGR and 32.6% recent earnings YoY. The narrative layer gets it right: this is an anchored, steady-compounder story with no meme premium — which means the downside from narrative unwind is limited. The classification as "mature_earner" is defensible but slightly misses that Stantec is still meaningfully growing; it's not a GE-style ex-growth industrial.
Contrarian case worth taking seriously: engineering consultancies are cyclical on backlog conversion, and the 2021-2025 window coincides with a historic infrastructure spending surge (IIJA in the US, similar programs in Canada/UK/Australia). If that fades in 2026-2027 and a Trump administration reallocates or defers spending, book-to-bill could roll over quickly. Margin expansion in services almost always comes from utilization, and utilization mean-reverts. The 32.6% earnings YoY is likely peak-cycle, not run-rate. If normalized earnings are closer to $280-300M, then 23.5x becomes 27-28x on normalized, and fair value drops to $58-62 — which is exactly where the synthesis lands. That's the honest bear case, and it's not crazy. Data gaps also bother me: no quarterly trajectory provided, no FCF/capex breakdown, no backlog figure — for an engineering firm, backlog is the single most important leading indicator and it's absent here. The "insufficient_data" tag on quarterly trend is a real limitation.
Net: I partially agree with the synthesis but think it's too bearish on point estimate. The stock isn't a screaming buy at $70 — the easy money from margin expansion has been made and infrastructure spending is likely mid-to-late cycle — but calling it 8% overvalued when it's growing earnings 20%+ on a durable services model with a 6.5%+ FCF yield feels like penalty for being boring. I'd call it fairly valued with a slight lean to undervalued if you believe backlog holds through 2026. A starter position at $70 makes sense; I'd add aggressively below $62 where the synthesis fair value provides a floor with margin of safety. Above $80, the risk/reward flips clearly negative absent a genuine growth re-acceleration.
GPT Reading
What stands out is that Stantec has quietly become a better business faster than the market stereotype of “steady engineering consultant” suggests. Revenue has gone from $3.26B in 2021 to $5.81B in 2025, a 78% increase in four years, while net income rose from $143.1M to $341.9M, up 139%. That is not just end-market lift; it implies real operating quality improvement even though operating margin data is missing. The cleanest evidence is net margin expanding from 4.4% in 2021 to 5.9% in 2025, with 2025 earnings up 32.6% on only 8.6% revenue growth. For a people-based professional services firm, that kind of earnings elasticity usually means better utilization, pricing, mix, or acquisition integration rather than accounting noise. At $70.49, the stock trades at 23.5x earnings, 1.38x sales, and 3.48x book. For a business compounding revenue at 12% and earnings at 20% with a 14.8% ROE and solid cash conversion, that does not look obviously expensive.
The balance sheet also looks more supportive than the cautionary framing implies. Debt of $1.30B against $283.9M of cash leaves roughly $1.0B of net debt, which is manageable for a company generating $615.5M of operating cash flow and carrying a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. This is not a capital-intensive contractor with large equipment needs and lumpy project risk; it is an asset-light design and consulting platform, so cash generation matters more than raw leverage headlines. On simple math, operating cash flow is about 1.8x net income in 2025, which is a healthy sign for earnings quality. If I assume even moderate capex needs, free cash flow should still be comfortably above accounting earnings. That matters because a business at roughly $8.0B market cap producing this level of cash can delever, keep doing bolt-on M&A, and support dividend growth without needing heroic assumptions.
I think the “fully priced” call is too conservative because it anchors on the current multiple without giving enough credit to the quality and durability of the earnings progression. A 23.5x P/E for a cyclical contractor would be rich; for a recurring-fee infrastructure and environmental consultancy with broad secular exposure, it is much closer to reasonable. The market is paying about 1.56x EV/revenue for a firm whose gross profit in 2023 was already $1.96B on $4.62B of sales, suggesting a structurally attractive service mix. The key question is not whether Stantec deserves a premium to generic industrials; it does. The question is whether it deserves to trade more like a mature no-growth outsourcer or a steady compounder with modest multiple resilience. Based on the 2021-2025 trajectory, I lean to the latter. I would not call it a screaming bargain, but I do think fair value is above the low-$60s implied by the prior synthesis; something in the mid-to-high $70s is easier to justify if current margin gains hold.
The best case against this view is straightforward: this may simply be near-peak conditions dressed up as structural improvement. Revenue growth has already decelerated to 8.6%, and engineering consultancies can look deceptively stable right before public funding, private development, or energy capex cools. Net margin at 5.9% is still not high, so a modest utilization drop or wage pressure could hit earnings hard. The current ratio of 1.23 is adequate, not fortress-like, and acquisitive roll-ups can flatter multi-year growth while masking the organic trajectory. On that framing, 23.5x earnings and 1.38x sales are not cheap for a company still exposed to labor inflation, government budgets, and project timing. I take those risks seriously, but I weigh them differently because the company has shown four consecutive years of rising scale and profitability, while leverage remains controlled and cash flow robust enough to absorb a softer patch.
What would change my mind is evidence that 2025 was the high-water mark rather than a step-up in base earnings power. If revenue growth slips below mid-single digits while net income falls back toward the 2024 level of $257.8M, then today’s multiple is too high and the shares probably belong closer to $60-$65. Likewise, if operating cash flow stops tracking earnings and drops materially below roughly $500M without an obvious working-capital explanation, the quality case weakens. On the other hand, if Stantec can convert the $5.81B revenue base into another year of double-digit EPS growth with net margin sustained around 6% and debt held near current levels, the stock can support $75-$80 without stretching.
Grok Reading
Stantec’s five-year arc is a clean operating-leverage story rather than a pure top-line rocket. Revenue compounded from $3.26B in 2021 to $5.81B in 2025 at a 12.1% CAGR, while net income nearly doubled-plus from $143M to $342M (20.3% earnings CAGR), lifting net margin from roughly 4.4% to 5.9%. The 2025 print is the standout: 8.6% revenue growth produced a 32.6% earnings jump and $615.5M of operating cash flow—nearly 1.8× net income—on an asset-light consulting model. That cash conversion, a 14.8% ROE, a conservative 21% payout, and only $1.30B of debt against $2.31B equity (D/E 0.56) paint a mature earner that is still expanding margins and throwing off cash. At $70.49 the stock trades 23.5× trailing earnings, 1.38× sales and 3.5× book; with a sub-1% dividend yield the market is paying a full but not egregious multiple for mid-teens historical growth and infrastructure/water/net-zero exposure. The pre-flight note that shares sit 38% off highs is consistent with a name that has already absorbed cyclical skepticism while still delivering double-digit earnings growth.
Where the numbers and the models diverge is sustainability of the latest margin step-up. Revenue growth has decelerated to 8.6% while earnings accelerated, implying the bulk of the 2025 beat came from mix, utilization or cost discipline rather than volume. If that 5.9% net margin is the new run-rate, forward earnings power supports something closer to a low-20s multiple and the $70 handle looks reasonable; if it partially mean-reverts toward the 4.8–5.1% zone of 2023–24, the earnings CAGR compresses toward high-single-digits and 23.5× becomes rich. Balance-sheet liquidity is adequate but not fortress-like (current ratio 1.23, net debt roughly $1B), so any prolonged slowdown in public-sector awards would be felt. Secondary signals flagging macro headwinds and below-sector benchmarks reinforce that Stantec is executing inside a less forgiving tape than the multi-year infrastructure boom that powered the earlier CAGR.
The strongest contrary case is the valuation synthesis itself: composite fair value near $63–65 implies the stock is already 8% overvalued, methods are mixed, and the market is pricing more growth than the models project. A smart skeptic would also cite the mature-earner archetype, government-spending dependency, labor-cost pressure endemic to professional services, and the absence of any cult or transformative narrative that could expand the multiple. Those points are real; I simply weigh the $615M operating-cash generation, still-positive 12% revenue CAGR trajectory, and sub-0.6 D/E more heavily than a static DCF that appears to under-credit recent free-cash-flow momentum (FCF CAGR flagged at 25.9%). The premium to the composite is modest and is backed by visible cash rather than story.
I would flip to a clear undervalued call on two consecutive quarters of revenue re-acceleration above 10% with margins holding ≥5.5%, or a sustained FCF print that puts the free-cash yield comfortably above 6% at the current price. Conversely, a drop in net margin back below 5% or a material slowdown in North American infrastructure bookings would confirm the models’ caution and push me to overvalued.
Big-3 Panel — where each AI stands
Advanced Analysis Forensic deep-dive · separate lenses
Stantec has grown revenue from $3.26B (2021) to $5.81B (2025), a ~15% CAGR, while net income roughly 2.4x'd from $143M to $342M and FCF nearly 2.5x'd from $250M to $615M. OCF/NI of 1.66x and accruals of -3.4% of assets indicate reported earnings are backed by cash, and there are no mechanical earnings-quality flags. Diluted share count has crept only from 111.6M to 114.1M (0.5% CAGR) with SBC at just 0.5% of revenue and no buybacks - not returning capital, but not eroding per-share value either. The balance-sheet caveat is real: net debt of roughly $1.0B against only $284M of liquid cash, and an Altman Z of 2.54 sits in the grey zone. But with $615M of annual FCF, that leverage is comfortably serviceable - it is a constraint, not a survival question. Classification as a mature earner fits: this looks like a disciplined professional-services roll-up in engineering consulting, where cash conversion, backlog, and human capital tend to be the moat, and Stantec's numbers are consistent with that pattern being intact and improving.
Verify before trusting this (6)
- True gross and operating margin trajectory for 2024-25 (data table shows 0, likely a mapping error)
- Debt maturity schedule and covenant headroom on the ~$1.3B gross debt
- Organic vs acquired revenue growth mix - roll-ups can flatter headline growth
- Backlog trend and book-to-bill to confirm durability of the growth path
- Goodwill and intangibles as a share of assets given the acquisitive strategy
- Customer/geographic concentration (public vs private sector exposure)
Stantec is a strong business (quality score 65) but the composite fair value of $62.81 and signal-adjusted FV of $64.82 both sit below the $70.49 price, implying roughly -8% to -11% downside to deserved value. The anchored-PE method independently lands at $62.81, so the FV signal is internally consistent rather than a runaway output. Earnings quality is high, so there is no haircut to apply, but there is also no hidden cash-adjusted discount to unlock.
Verify before trusting this (4)
- Backlog growth and book-to-bill in latest quarter - the main driver of whether mid-teens growth is sustainable
- Organic vs acquired revenue split - anchored-PE assumes durable growth, M&A-heavy growth deserves a lower multiple
- Margin trajectory guidance - any softening validates the bear's labor-cost concern and lowers deserved value
- Net debt trajectory - moderate leverage is the one quality blemish and matters for the fair-value bridge
STN sits inside a benign but unspectacular sentiment backdrop. The market regime is mildly risk-on (score +22, VIX 16, S&P only 1.6% off highs), and with a beta of just 0.72 the tape barely moves this name either way. What matters more is the narrative: a low-intensity, moderate-durability steady-compounder story tied to infrastructure spending, net-zero capex, and urbanization. That story is quietly in favor - it is not a mania, but the E&C consulting cohort has been a preferred way to play multi-year public infrastructure and energy-transition capex, and STN is a first-call name in that basket. Momentum confirms the pressure is constructive: 12% CAGR with low volatility, the profile allocators reward in a neutral tape. The main offset is macro sensitivity - 10y at 4.68% and a 26.9 market PE cap multiple expansion for a name already at an 8.7% premium, and the bear framing (commoditized consulting, labor cost pressure) is the argument that keeps the narrative from getting loud. Net: a genuine but ordinary tailwind, not a decisive force.
Verify before trusting this (4)
- Whether infrastructure/net-zero capex headlines stay supportive or fade as a political theme
- Analyst target revisions after next print - are estimates still drifting up or flattening
- Any crack in the low-volatility growth profile (a single messy quarter would hit a premium name hard)
- A meaningful VIX spike above 20 that would test whether low beta actually protects the name
This lens hasn't been run for this ticker yet.