When you’re building your portfolio, it’s helpful to have some diversification as well as a mix of both value and growth stocks to give you the best of both worlds. But finding stocks that can fit that mold may be a bit challenging, as there are many possible options to choose from.
While you don’t want to be overly aggressive and have risky portfolio, you also don’t want to select stocks that will provide little in the way of returns. Below are three stocks that could be great pillars to build your portfolio around with great future prospects.
Fortis Inc. (TSX: FTS)(NYSE: FTS) has operations in many different parts of North America and the utility company has had tremendous success growing both sales and profits over the years. In its most recent fiscal year, sales were up by more than 21%, and since 2014 have increased by 54%. Earnings have nearly tripled in the past three years as well.
Fortis is a great blue-chip stock that can offer investors a lot of stability and opportunity for growth as well as the company generates lots of cash that can be used to fund more growth and acquisitions.
Over the past 10 years, Fortis stock has climbed more than 75% in value, although year to date it has struggled, declining 7% since the start of 2018. Over the long term, you can expect to generate income from both capital appreciation and dividends as well. Currently, Fortis pays investors a very attractive yield of around 4% per year, and the company has a strong track record for increasing its payouts as well.
Waste Connections Inc. (TSX: WCN)(NYSE: WCN) is another stock that has grown over the years and likely will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Operating in a fragmented industry, there’s a lot of opportunity for the company to build market share via acquisition, as it has done already. Sales have more than doubled since 2014, as has the company’s bottom line.
Processing waste is an inevitable part of our day-to-day lives, which makes Waste Connections a very safe and valuable long-term buy; it’s a recession-proof stock that wouldn’t be as impacted by economic conditions as a bank or telecommunications stock might.
Like Fortis, Waste Connections stock has also risen above 75% in 10 years, but it has had a better fate in 2018 with its share price up 16% year to date.
Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX: BNS)(NYSE: BNS) is a bit of a different bank stock than the Big Five. The company has expanded into parts of the world that may not seem typical. While many Canadian banks focus on expansion in the United States, Scotiabank has worked to create a strong presence in Latin America.
The choice is an interesting one and would give your portfolio some added diversification by having exposure in a market that’s largely detached from the effects of North America. There’s also going to be more growth opportunities for the bank to grow in that part of the world.
Scotiabank also provides a solid dividend that pays over 4.2%, and it too has increased payouts with some regularity.
