In this episode, Simon and Dan break down why software stocks continue to struggle despite many companies showing little evidence of major AI disruption so far. They discuss the ongoing valuation reset across SaaS, the shift away from seat-based pricing, and why companies like Salesforce, ServiceNow, Adobe, Constellation Software, and Topicus may need more than solid earnings to regain investor confidence. They then turn to Bitcoin, looking at why it remains well below its roughly US$125,000 peak. Simon covers the role of ETF outflows, leverage, post-election crypto optimism fading, quantum computing fears, profit-taking, and higher bond yields as potential headwinds. To wrap up, they highlight stocks on their radar, including Visa and Mastercard as high-quality payment networks facing stablecoin disruption risk, and Waste Connections as a real-economy compounder trading at a more attractive valuation while the market remains focused on AI-related names. Tickers of stocks discussed: CRM, NOW, ADBE, CSU.TO, TOI.V, V, MA, WCN, WM, RSG, GFL.TO, BTC. Subscribe to our Our New Youtube Channel! Check out our portfolio by going to Jointci.com Our Website Our New Youtube Channel! Canadian Investor Podcast Network Twitter: @cdn_investing Simon’s twitter: @Fiat_Iceberg Braden’s twitter: @BradoCapital Dan’s Twitter: @stocktrades_ca Want to learn more about Real Estate Investing? Check out the Canadian Real Estate Investor Podcast! Apple Podcast - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Spotify - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Web player - The Canadian Real Estate Investor Asset Allocation ETFs | BMO Global Asset Management Sign up for Fiscal.ai for free to get easy access to global stock coverage and powerful AI investing tools. Register for EQ Bank, the seamless digital banking experience with better rates and no nonsense. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 Are Software Stocks Broken? Plus 3 Stocks on Our Radar

The Canadian Investor

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** The Canadian Investor

## Transcript

[SPEAKER_A] Investing is simple, but don't confuse that with thinking it's easy.

[SPEAKER_B] A stock is not just a ticker. At the end of the day, you have to remember that it's a business.

[SPEAKER_A] Just my reminder to people who own cyclicals, don't be surprised when there's a cycle.

[SPEAKER_B] If there's uncertainty in the markets, there's going to be some great opportunities for investors.

[SPEAKER_A] This has to be one of the biggest quarters I've seen from this company in quite some time.

[SPEAKER_B] Welcome back to the Canadian Investor Podcast. We have a fun episode coming up today. So we'll start off with software companies and what they're doing and what they could still do to improve their returns performance and why it's still not working and the market is not rewarding them right now. Then we'll look at Bitcoin and why it's still significantly down from its roughly $125,000 $1 peak in US dollars. And then we'll finish off if we have time, but we should be good with Stocks on Our Radar presented by EQ Bank. So some pretty well-known companies, but companies that have been put a little bit on the back burner with the market really focusing on AI-related companies, specifically the semiconductor right now. So a fun episode to come up. Hopefully you'll enjoy it. Some fun topics.

[SPEAKER_A] Yeah, I mean, I guess, do we want to just get right into it on the software side?

[SPEAKER_B] Yeah, let's do it.

[SPEAKER_A] So yeah, I made this segment originally. I kind of mentioned, like, I wanted to do a segment on what exactly software companies need to do to turn things around in terms of sentiment or, you know, even obviously positive price action. That's why we're buying these companies. And I actually found this like one of the more difficult segments to write because every single thing that I kind of looked at they were already doing. So this is one of the— this is one of the wildest trades, I guess you could call it, in the market right now. I mean, it's just— it's such a unique situation. All these companies are just getting beat up pricing-wise. But I thought it would be a pretty good segment to go over because I would imagine the majority of listeners have taken some sort of flyer on a beat-up software company. I mean, I know you did on Constellation when they first had that dip. And then you ended up moving on. But I mean, probably a ton of listeners have at some point over the last year or so bought one of these software companies and they just keep going down. So if we go back a year or so, when, I mean, maybe even 12, 18 months, the idea was that these companies need to prove that AI-level disruption would not occur at their business. If they did this for a period of time, the market would eventually react positively. So We're now, you know, 4, 5, 6 quarters later with a lot of these big players pretty much seeing zero levels of disruption. In some case...

Are Software Stocks Broken? Plus 3 Stocks on Our Radar

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

Are Software Stocks Broken? Plus 3 Stocks on Our Radar

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.