Best Stocks To Buy Canada EXCLUSIVE

Canadian stocks and the Toronto Stock Exchange, in general, have had a poor reputation in terms of returns. Many investors looking to learn how to buy stocks in Canada skip the Canadian markets and head down south for more growth.

best stocks to buy canada

But there's money to be made regarding Canadian stocks and the Canadian stock market, especially in the environment we could be heading into. That is an economic downturn and recession. There will be plenty of headwinds for companies moving forward, and Canadian stocks are set to weather them better than most.

A list of top Canadian stocks wouldn't be complete without the top-performing Canadian stock in recent memory, Shopify (TSE:SHOP). And yes, it's still one of the best-performing Canadian stocks since its IPO, even after its catastrophic drawdown.

Shopify offers an e-commerce platform primarily to small and medium businesses globally. They operate in two primary segments, subscription solutions and merchant solutions. Subscription solutions allow subscribers (mostly merchants) to conduct business through Shopify's tools. In contrast, merchant solutions help companies to become more efficient via Shopify Payments, Shopify Shipping, and Shopify Capital.The company has been persistently labelled "overvalued" by analysts and investors. Still, before its large-scale correction in 2022, it had never disappointed. Now, the company is seeing slowing growth. But this is to be expected as companies emerging from the early-stage growth phase can rarely keep pace with past growth. The company and its CEO Tobi Lutke have been the first to admit they forecasted too much growth in 2022 and beyond due to the pandemic.The company's theory was that 5+ years of e-commerce growth would be pulled into 2022, suggesting the pandemic permanently shifted consumer shopping habits. It missed the mark on that projection by a large amount, so the market has hammered it. However, it is still one of the fastest-growing companies of its size in North America.Shopify is trading at the cheapest valuation in its history regarding enterprise value to revenue (EV/Revenue). The company would still be deemed "expensive" when we look at the general market. But overall, there hasn't been a cheaper time to buy Shopify.If you don't have a quick trigger finger in terms of selling stocks, in my opinion, there will be few investors who are disappointed 5-7 years down the road if they bought Shopify even at these levels. Just be prepared for a lot of bumps in the road.The company is still growing rapidly and has a large cash balance to reinvest in its business.

There are limited 5G plays here in Canada. We're often forced to head down south to the American markets if we want exposure to high-growth 5G opportunities. While Telus (TSE:T) doesn't exactly boast world-beating future potential, the stock is the best telecom stock to own in the country today regarding both 5G exposure and overall growth.

The last five years have not been favourable to Canadian telecoms regarding growth. Telus has only grown revenue by 3.7% annually over the previous five years, and earnings have remained relatively flat.However, the environment has completely changed for these companies. Telecom infrastructure is difficult to construct and extremely costly. On the one hand, this is a massive benefit to a company like Telus. Unless they're willing to share towers, it creates an almost impenetrable barrier to entry.On the other hand, however, it makes developing new infrastructure extremely expensive, and telecom companies often carry a large amount of debt. Case in point, trying to keep pace when it comes to 5G development.When interest rates are high, we can expect these companies to struggle. However, even as rates increase, they're still at manageable levels for these companies. Most telecoms will likely scale back capital expenditures due to the rising rates. Still, Telus should be able to continue to fuel growth even in this environment.Analysts feel the same, predicting double-digit earnings growth for Telus and mid to high single-digit revenue growth over the next few years. This is the fastest expected growth rate of all 3 major telecom companies.The company's economic moat, pricing power, and it being one of the best Canadian dividend stocks in the country make it a no-brainer on this list.

Prior to the pandemic, Parkland had some outstanding growth. It was one of the fastest-growing mid-cap stocks in the country. But, the pandemic hit the company hard as travel activity collapsed amid shutdowns. It certainly didn't help its refining business either, as the price of crude oil inevitably collapsed due to the lack of travel.Despite recoveries from many other players in the industry, like Alimentation Couche-Tard, at the time of writing, Parkland remains significantly below its pre-COVID valuations. The market is having a hard time valuing this company. For long-term investors, it is certainly an attractive proposition. The main thing keeping Parkland Fuel's share price low is the company's debt levels. But it has navigated this type of interest rate environment plenty of times.Considering the company pays a healthy dividend, it would be a mistake for Canadians not to consider this stock or add it to a watchlist. The company is a Canadian Dividend Aristocrat, having raised dividends for nine straight years and paying on a monthly basis, making it even more attractive to Canadian investors wanting a steady income stream.As long as the company can maintain its dividend and remain in a solid position to grow, we'll be patient and let it recover from this unprecedented pandemic.

Over the last half-decade, there's been an emergence in a particular niche industry in the financial sector: alternative lenders. One of the best Canadian stocks in that niche? Goeasy Ltd (TSE:GSY).

In the current economic climate, defensive stocks have gained much popularity. One of the country's most prominent consumer defensive stocks is Dollarama (TSE:DOL). The company provides a broad range of everyday consumer products, general merchandise, and seasonal items, with merchandise at low fixed price points. General merchandise and consumer products jointly account for most of the company's product offerings.

It's been a very long time since we've included a cyclical option on our list of top Canadian stocks to buy. But there is no doubt oil is making a resurgence, and it's likely high oil prices will remain well into 2023 and beyond.

And, if we're looking to make an investment based on oil, we'd like to own the best-in-class producer in North America. We believe that producer to be Canadian Natural Resources (TSE:CNQ). Look back over the last ten years, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a better-performing major oil stock than Canadian Natural Resources.

Now, that isn't to say its performance has necessarily been good, as the oil and gas sector has provided abysmal returns for a very long time. But it's been the best of a bad bunch. And, now that oil has made a comeback, it could rise from the ashes and become one of the best-performing stocks on the TSX Composite Index.

Canadian Natural is one of the most efficient companies in the industry. With breakeven prices in the $30 WTI range, the company can maintain positive cash flows in almost every environment. In fact, despite oil prices seeing one of the largest collapses in their history in 2020, Canadian Natural still produced over $2.2B in free cash flow in Fiscal 2020.For this reason, the company was not only able to maintain the dividend in 2020, but while other major producers like Suncor Energy were cutting their payouts, Canadian Natural Resources came through with a dividend raise to extend its multi-decade dividend growth streak.Canadian Natural and investors stand to benefit if WTI prices can be maintained at the $70 range over the next 2-3 years. Although the "home run" style price levels are likely long past us, don't make this the reason you ignore Canadian Natural right now. The company still has upside potential in terms of the share price. Still, the most attractive thesis for the company is its dividend and share buybacks.Cyclical options are not long-term holds. Unless you want to underperform, that is. Many investors in the oil and gas industry know this. And they also know that the industry is not exactly on the up and up. So, for this reason, many investors expect oil companies to return cash flow to investors in the form of a dividend or share buybacks instead of spending cash flow on expansion.This should result in some hefty dividend increases and share appreciation via buybacks. These two reasons are precisely why Canadian Natural has cracked the top 3 of our best Canadian stocks to buy in 2023 and beyond.

On average, over the last five years, the company has grown revenue and earnings by mid-single digits. Not bad for the largest company in the country. And with a dividend yield in the 4% range and a 12-year dividend growth streak, RBC is one of the best dividend payers in the country.The Canadian banking industry is one of the strongest investment sectors in the world, highlighted by the fact that no Big 5 financial institution cut their dividend during the 2008 financial crisis and no Big 5 institution cut during the COVID-19 pandemic.As soon as regulatory agencies allowed major institutions like the Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Toronto-Dominion Bank, National Bank of Canada, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and Royal Bank to raise the dividend, they did so almost immediately.One question many are asking is why did Royal Bank fare better than most during the pandemic? This is primarily because it has more global exposure than any other bank.This allowed it to be exposed to a multitude of economies at different stages of recovery. Compare this to a bank like Toronto Dominion, which has almost all its revenue exclusively in Canada and the United States.The financial correction in Canada in 2022 was, in our opinion, an overreaction. In volatile markets, we often find strong entry points for some of the best companies in the country. Royal Bank is one of those and could be a solid addition to your portfolio in 2023. 041b061a72