ACM vs WSPOF: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. ACM and WSPOF share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined ACM and WSPOF exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

AECOM is in the business of engineering expertise, not steel. The company plans, designs, engineers and manages infrastructure programs for governments and large corporations: highways and transit systems, water and wastewater treatment, airports and ports, environmental remediation, flood defenses, and increasingly the power and site work behind data centers. It reports in three segments, Americas (about $2.9 billion of quarterly revenue), International (about $890 million), and a small AECOM Capital investment arm, and employs roughly 51,000 people. Critically, AECOM exited self-perform construction years ago, so it no longer takes fixed-price building risk on its own balance sheet. What is left is a professional services business with very little capital intensity, which is why return on equity has historically run high on about $3.33 billion of debt against $1.02 billion of cash (June 30, 2026).

Full ACM guide

WSP Global Inc. is one of the world's largest engineering, science and advisory firms, with about 83,000 employees in more than 50 countries. It designs and advises on transportation, buildings, water, environmental services, mining, and power and energy work across Canada, the U.S., Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. It is paid professional fees for design, consulting and program management rather than taking on construction risk, which keeps the business asset-light and cash generative. Growth comes from steady organic expansion plus serial acquisitions: Parsons Brinckerhoff in 2014, POWER Engineers in 2024, the UK consultancy Ricardo in October 2025 and TRC Companies, a U.S. power, utility and environmental consultant with about 8,000 staff, in February 2026. WSPOF is an OTC quote for the same ordinary shares, not a sponsored ADR, so one WSPOF share equals one TSX share priced in U.S. dollars.

Full WSPOF guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• ACM drivers: A record backlog that is growing faster than revenue; Margin expansion in an asset-light model.
• WSPOF drivers: Power and energy demand; Margin expansion through productivity.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: The cash flow problem remains live and has been joined by an earnings problem: the fiscal third quarter of 2026 included a one-off charge on a legacy project that produced a ~$87 million net loss and a guidance cut. For WSPOF, the central debate in 2026 is whether generative AI tools will reduce the hours engineering and design firms bill, which has driven a sector-wide de-rating and roughly a 35% year-to-date drop in WSP shares even as results beat guidance.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick ACM if you believe its drivers more; WSPOF if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the ACM and WSPOF guides.

ACM. At ~$59 on October 16, 2026, AECOM trades near 9.3 times consensus fiscal 2027 EPS of ~$6.36, a lower multiple than in August, because the market now doubts both cash conversion and near-term earnings after the third-quarter charge and guidance cut. Trailing GAAP figures are weak (net income of ~$373 million on ~$15.4 billion of revenue, a trailing P/E near 21), so the forward and trailing multiples tell very different stories. Analysts' mean target of ~$84 across 12 firms sits well above the share price, which shows how wide the disagreement has become.

WSPOF. Figures are in Canadian dollars, WSP's reporting currency, and are approximate as of mid October 2026; the WSPOF price is the TSX price converted to U.S. dollars and can differ slightly because of OTC spreads. With an enterprise value of roughly C$29 billion against the midpoint of 2026 EBITDA guidance, the stock trades near 9x, well below the premium it carried in 2024 and 2025. Trailing P/E on reported earnings is about 23, inflated by acquisition costs. The C$0.375 quarterly dividend yields under 1%, so the return case rests on earnings growth rather than income.

Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): ACM shows revenue (ttm) ~$15.4 billion (fiscal Q3 2026 down ~14% yoy), fiscal q3 2026 eps ~-$0.50 vs ~$1.46 consensus (legacy-project charge), net income (ttm) ~$373 million (~1.9% margin), p/e (trailing / forward) ~20.8x / ~9.3x; WSPOF shows share price (tsx: wsp) ~C$162 (WSPOF ~US$117), market cap / net debt ~C$22 billion / ~C$6.9 billion, net revenue (q2 2026) ~C$4.27 billion, up ~22.9%, adjusted eps (q2 2026) C$2.88, up from C$2.35.

ACM and WSPOF are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined ACM and WSPOF exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.