With Halloween behind us, we have fewer than two months remaining until the end of the year, and like any wise investor, we need to be pro-active when it comes to our hard-earned money and our investment portfolios. There are a number of quality names available. We’ll look at the top five stocks investors will want to own before the year comes to a close.
The first name on our list is Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSX:CM)(NYSE:CM). At a price of $113.50, CIBC offers investors a dividend yield of more than 4.5% and is regarded as the least expensive of all major Canadian banks. The reason this name is currently trading at a discount to its peers is due to the recent wealth management acquisition, which was made south of the border; it has yet to be proven successful. Essentially, it is still too early to judge either way.
With earnings due at the end of November, investors have a significant amount of upside waiting in the wind.
The second name investors will want to hold are shares of alternative lender Home Capital Group Inc. (TSX:HCG). At a price of less than $14 per share, HCG continues to trade at a substantial discount to tangible book value. With the potential for free money to be had in the form of asset sales, investors should not hesitate to follow Warren Buffett into this name.
As oil continues to rebound and approach the US$55-per-barrel mark, investors need to strongly consider shares of Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU)(NYSE:SU), as the company stands to benefit from higher oil prices across the board. As an integrated oil company, from the production to the pumps, Suncor has dealt with low oil prices better than most in this sector and stands to come out ahead once things return to normal.
The most speculative stock of the group is for shareholders not afraid of a higher level of risk and reward. At a current price nearly $13 per share, MedReleaf Corp. (TSX:LEAF) is one of the marijuana sectors’ most overlooked names. With the legalization of marijuana at the doorstep in 2018, the interest from larger U.S.-based companies has already started. Since shares of this emerging company are appropriately priced given the long-term fundamentals of the industry, investors have the opportunity to buy at a fair price and potentially enjoy the profit of it being taken over in the near future.
The last name for investors to consider before the end of the year are shares of the very well known Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:APPL). As the company has recently been in the news for achieving another all-time high, investors need to realize that the absence of euphoria around this name is now a good thing. What everyone was excited about many years ago has become a standard part of every person’s life (iPhones/iPads), which leads to more consistent revenues and earnings for the company. How much higher shares of this consumer technology company will go remains to be seen.
