Canada celebrates Thanksgiving this weekend, and while we haven’t adopted nearly all of the quirks of the holiday that are traditionally observed by our neighbours to the south, Canadians will have an extra-long weekend to spend time with family, friends, and turkey.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are three investments for growth-minded investors to consider that I’m definitely thankful for this holiday, and you should be, too!
Restaurant Brands International (TSX: QSR)(NYSE: QSR) is an incredible growth pick that is oddly still overlooked by many investors. The company behind the Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen brands has had an incredible past few years, with the stock gaining nearly 30% over the course of the past two years while hiking its quarterly dividend an incredible six times in that same period.
Keep in mind that during this same time period, the company was (and still is) paying off a massive amount of debt from the merger of Burger King and Tim Hortons brands as well as the later addition of Popeyes to the company’s portfolio. To say that the company is being managed well would be an understatement, and the company continues to perform well and register growth across all of its brands, even within the Tim Hortons segment, where Restaurant Brands has been dealing with franchisee issues.
Perhaps the most intriguing point to mention that makes the company a great growth pick is its approach to international expansion. The highly successful master franchise model used by Burger King to expand to dozens of markets is now being used successfully in both Tim Hortons and Popeyes; it should continue to drive growth for years.
Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX: TD)(NYSE: TD) is steadily surpassing its reputation as “America’s most convenient bank” and becoming Canada’s biggest bank. The green behemoth has released quarter after quarter of impressive results, and its massive expansion into the U.S. market over the past decade has paid off nicely for investors seeking both income and growth options.
In terms of growth, TD has seen an impressive gain of over 30% in the past two-year period, and over the past five years, the bank has seen its stock rise nearly 70%, while raising its quarterly dividend on an annual basis to its current 3.46%.
In addition to its growing network in the U.S., which now has more branches than Canada, TD’s quarterly results showcase that the bank is both well funded and able to cope with whatever the market throws at it. Earnings in the most recent quarter topped the same period last year by an impressive 12%, coming in at $3.1 billion.
Those strong results were evident in both the Canadian and U.S. segments of the bank, with Canadian retail seeing a 7% increase in net income to $1,852 million, and the U.S. Retail segment realizing a 31% increase in net income over the prior period to $1,161 million.
At the time of writing, TD is trading at just over $77 with a P/E of 13.20.
There are critics who say that investing is like gambling, and if that were true then an investment in Stars Group (TSX:TSGI)(NASDAQ:TSG) seems more than warranted. The software company develops a suite of casino and card games for an audience of gamblers that has over 100 million players in over a dozen different jurisdictions.
In case you’re wondering whether there’s money to be made in online poker games, consider this: Stars Group completed its PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker series ever last month, which consisted of 1.1 million entries from 140 countries. In total, more than $15 million in first-place payouts were distributed, along with over 150,000 individual cash prizes.
Amazingly, Stars Group has barely scratched the surface in terms of potential, as it still only operates in a handful of jurisdictions, and major debates on expanding into new markets are on the floor of several chambers, including one U.S. House subcommittee that met on the matter last week.
Investors looking for one more reason to consider the stock right now should look no further than the current market — the stock is trading below $23, down nearly 38% over the past three-month period.
